The wealthiest 1% of people in the UK collectively donate just under £8bn a year to charitable causes, according to new research.
Britain’s high net-worth individuals gave the equivalent of 0.4% of their combined £2tn of investable assets in 2023, according to the High Value Giving report published by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) today.
Meanwhile, the wider UK public donated an estimated £13.9bn to good causes in the same year, equivalent to 1.6% of their income, according to CAF’s separate UK Giving report.
Education the most popular cause
The report looked at the philanthropic activity of around 3,000 wealthy people in the UK before applying proprietary wealth modelling to project those findings to everyone in the UK with investable assets of £1m or more.
Commissioned by CAF and carried out by Altrata, the report says that high net-worth donors gave £7.96bn in 2023.
The donors who gave the highest proportion of their wealth are 63 years old on average and are more than twice as likely to have inherited their wealth, the report states.
Women made up 29% of the most generous donors, compared to 19% of the high net-worth population overall, the report states.
Researchers found that causes supported by Britain’s wealthiest are different to those supported by the rest of the public.
The most popular cause for wealthy donors is education, supported by six in 10 high net-worth individuals.
Meanwhile, only 4% of the rest of the public chose to donate to education, compared to 28% who donated to animal welfare, which is the UK public's most popular cause.
Some 26% of high net-worth individuals donated to arts and culture, while just 3% of the public chose to support this cause.
‘There is considerable untapped potential for philanthropy’
The report says that if each of the UK’s estimated 536,673 millionaires were to donate 1% of their investable assets, this could mean an extra £12bn for the charity sector.
It estimates that the total donation from high net-worth individuals would increase to £19.9bn.
Edward Garrett, CAF’s head of private clients, said: “The UK has a strong history of philanthropy, which has been behind some of our most important innovations and funds crucial charitable services throughout our country.
“But there is cynicism towards philanthropy in the UK, perhaps more so than other countries.
“There is considerable untapped potential for philanthropy to contribute towards tackling local, national and global challenges.
“Donors, particularly among the next generation, are increasingly considering their giving as part of the spectrum of capital they can invest within the broader impact economy.
“The government can take steps to harness this and renew Britain's culture of giving to strengthen civil society for the future, with high net-worth individuals and professional advisers playing a leading role.”
‘The wealthiest have a responsibility to give more’
Erwin Hieltjes-Rigamonti, associate director at think tank NPC said: “We welcome this report, which highlights the ways in which high-value philanthropists give.
“Many charities are struggling for funds at the moment. The research is right to challenge the wealthy to match the generosity of the rest of society.
“We believe the wealthiest have a responsibility to give more, and to support work that has the most impact.
“The impact market – including charities, philanthropy, impact investing, and social enterprises – has enormous potential to grow.”
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