• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

The Beacon Collaborative HomepageThe Beacon Collaborative

  • About us
    • Introduction
    • The Beacon Manifesto
    • Board of Trustees
    • Funders and partners
    • News & Views
    • Contact us
  • Better philanthropy
    • Talking about philanthropy
    • The philanthropy ecosystem
    • Donor journey
      • How do I get started?
      • Building a strategy for my donor journey
      • What is best practice in philanthropy?
      • Learning from others
      • Accountability
    • Young givers
    • Bridging diversity
    • Barriers to giving
  • Growing giving
    • Beacon Forum
    • Market measurement
    • National strategy
    • Regional philanthropy
  • Data and research
    • HNW giving
    • Reports
  • Stories
    • Philanthropy stories
    • Video interviews
    • Giving Voice to Philanthropy

HNW giving data

Raising the stakes — researching the scale and potential of high net worth philanthropy

October 18, 2023 by Beacon Admin

By Cathy Pharoah, Visiting Professor of Charity Funding, Bayes Business School

Policy makers, charities, and practitioners are increasingly recognising the important role played by wealthy people in giving to good causes of all kinds, from local community needs to national arts and science facilities.

Efforts to increase this focus, and indeed to increase giving from the wealthiest, will be a very hard ask without better evidence on what the wealthy already contribute, and the potential scale for growth. New research has indicated that we have poor understanding of giving by High Net Worth (HNW) and ultra-HNW (UHNW) individuals in the UK, and that its level and scope are being significantly under-estimated. This leaves a weak evidence base for policies that sustain and grow HNW giving.

The research concluded that this gap in our knowledge was left by existing giving surveys which do not collect data on donor wealth, seriously under-represent the very wealthy, and vary widely in features such as types of donor included, timescales, kinds of beneficiaries included and what is measured (eg tax relief, size or type of gift). The outcome is a fragmented and discontinuous picture of giving in the UK, with existing research methodologies producing only a partial view of the total picture of HNW giving, sometimes with conflicting results.

To address these gaps, and demonstrate the potential of better data on HNW giving, our study trialled a test model based on survey data in which donors were selected by their wealth level, and data was boosted to include UHNW giving. Its results suggests that total giving by the HNW and UHNW population in the UK could be worth around £7.76 billion, and possibly much more [1]. This figure is largely missing from current estimates of giving in the UK.

A unique data-set was compiled from pooling responses to targeted questions on the level of giving among UK millionaires in 2020, 2021, 2022 placed quarterly by Beacon Collaborative in Savanta’s MillionnaireVue survey. This quarterly survey targets 300-500 individuals with investable wealth of >£1 million (ie. excluding property). For the test model, the data was boosted with figures on UHNW giving in the Sunday Times Giving List, where the top six highest donations are worth more than 40% of total STRL giving in each year.

In addition to the new estimate of £7.76bn for HNW giving, the results of the research show a 91% participation rate in giving by people with wealth of >£1 million. And importantly, in spite of some limits to the wealth data collected in the survey, results also indicate a moderately strong relationship between investable wealth and giving.

The finding that the more wealth people have, the more they tend to give is clearly significant for strategy at fundraising and policy levels. The finding suggests many HNW and UHNW individuals are giving based on their level of wealth, not their income. In turn, this suggests it is the asset base of an individual that provides the financial security which prompts the decision and capacity to give larger amounts.

A targeted survey with more extensive wealth data could test the strength and nature of the relationship between wealth and giving, and indicate, for example, which wealth thresholds are the most significant for changes in giving decisions, and how.

In addition to better financial insights into HNW giving, a targeted survey which could provide more models of giving behaviours would be particularly useful to those targeting or supporting HNW and UHNW donors. The patterns which have been found to characterise lower level giving in the general population cannot simply be extrapolated to this very different group of donors, who are likely to be influenced by factors such as wealth advice, business and professional interests, and global trends.

Areas for further research could also include the causes and institutions they support, the effect of changes in personal circumstances on donor decision-making, the ways in which HNW give including through legacies, foundations and gift funds, involvement in social investment, the numbers of charities supported and gifts made.

Based on this review of existing data, it was concluded that a new survey was needed, whose key features would primarily include:

  • inclusion of data on wealth, so that HNW giving could be studied in relation to HNW wealth
  • boosting data on hard-to-access UHNWs, to ensure all giving was included in final estimates
  • a sufficiently large sample of wealthy people to cover the whole wealth spectrum
  • asking donors themselves directly about their giving amounts and behaviours.

Despite the huge financial and social value of the philanthropy of the UK’s wealthiest people, very little giving research has a focus on high net worth (HNW) giving. This is particularly surprising given the distinct nature of HNW philanthropy, and its specialised professional fundraising and wealth advisory approaches.

It leaves the philanthropy sector hamstrung in its ability to advocate effectively with policy makers. The lack of clarity and coherence in data significantly hampers our ability to grow and develop HNW giving. We cannot call for regulatory changes, tax incentives, strategic investment or match funds if we cannot pinpoint the size of the potential prize.

Without the data to build a clear business case fundraising organisations cannot attract investment to develop their capabilities and capacity to work with major and HNW donors. Last but not least, the data gap leaves the door open for media narratives that the rich are not pulling their weight, which we cannot challenge. This is only likely to demotivate potential donors.

The results of this new HNW philanthropy market sizing project more than demonstrate the case for investment in a better study of HNW giving.

[1] Confidence limits were calculated to range between £6.45 billion and £11.99 billion

_________________________________________________

Scoping the high net worth philanthropy market

Author(s)

Cathy Pharoah, Cath Dovey, Tom McKenzie, Vivek Thaker

Year

2023

View

The work was funded by Arts Council England and City Bridge Foundation

The research survey was carried out and analysed by Savanta, through questions included in their MillionaireVue omnibus survey, commissioned by Beacon Collaborative. Savanta provided access to additional economic and demographic data.

Authors

  • Cathy Pharoah is a Visiting Professor of Charity Funding, Bayes Business School
  • Cath Dovey is Co-Founder, Beacon Collaborative
  • Tom McKenzie is Professor of Economics, CBS International Business School
  • Vivek Thaker is Associate Director, Savanta

Filed Under: Growing Giving, HNW giving data, Philanthropy ecosystem

Early spike in millionaire giving drops off while women donors give more — latest data shows 

July 20, 2023 by Beacon Admin

Giving levels header

Early spike in millionaire giving drops off while women donors give more — latest data shows 

The major spike in giving by UK millionaires, seen at the beginning of 2023, dropped off in the second quarter of this year, latest data shows.

However levels of giving are still higher than at the end of 2022, according to Beacon’s quarterly giving survey of UK millionaires.

The median level of giving in the last three months (April-June) was £1,000 – compared to £3,500 in the first three months of the year. 

However £1,000 is still double the median level of giving in Quarter 4 of 2022 which was £575.

Similarly, the mean, or average, gift in Quarter 2 was worth £8,171 compared to the mean of £20,000 in Quarter 1.

However this still exceeds the mean of £5,000 at the end of 2022.

The large spike in giving at the beginning of 2023 was fulled by millionaires responding to the cost of living crisis with many charities facing high winter energy and supply costs.

Levels of giving usually increase in response to a current crisis but although the higher level of giving seen at the start of the year has now eased, it is – encouragingly – still higher than last year.

Giving often led by women

Three years ago in June 2020, Beacon launched a quarterly survey of 300-500 high net worth individuals to understand patterns of giving by the wealthy over a continuous amount of time.

The survey, conducted by Savanta, asks wealthy people how much they have given to charitable causes in the previous three months, and whether this was more or less than planned. 

Over three years, the research has shown the ebb and flow of giving in different sections of the wealthy population. 

Looking at all the data so far, the numbers show that giving is often led by women. 

In the wider wealthy population, women give roughly twice as much as men, as more wealthy women give larger gifts. 

Among the most generous 10% the gap between men and women narrows, but gifts by women are still generally larger and women are often among the first to give when needs are identified. 

These findings are evidenced by the median, which has averaged £1,103 for women over the last three years, compared to £490 for men. 

Median giving levels men and women

The mean, which provides a better indicator of major gifts, was £7,575 for women over the same period and £7,000 for men.

Mean number giving between men and women

 

Better recognition needed for women donors

Women are not often identified as major donors, indeed, the Sunday Times Giving List includes only 9 individual women among the list of 100 major givers and 20 women who give as half of a couple or as part of a family.

However, our analysis suggests that fundraising organisations should not underestimate the role women play in giving and influencing major gift decisions. 

Recognising that women donors are a distinct segment of the giving population is an important step to ensuring they are fully engaged. 

For example, targeting fundraising events specifically at women, or bringing women together at events or in a donor circle, acknowledges the important role they play in making major gifts. 

More widely, the UK’s philanthropy sector could do more to celebrate the role of female philanthropy and to understand more about how women make decisions about giving, and how distinct this is from men. 

Certainly, women are distinctly less visible in the giving landscape than their male counterparts. 

Our research suggests it is time this changed.


Where next?

More articles on high net worth giving data.

Filed Under: HNW giving data

Foundation Practice Rating: philanthropy and public accountability

March 23, 2023 by Cath Dovey

When donors transfer money or shares into a foundation or donor advised fund, they are doing more than tax planning. They are making a commitment to using those funds for public benefit.

Tax reliefs for giving are offered precisely to encourage donors to make this transfer of wealth to civil society. This contract with the tax man raises interesting questions about how donors can best serve public benefit with the wealth they have ring-fenced for this purpose.

On one level, it is very simple. Any subsequent gift to a registered charity meets the tests of public benefit.

On another level, the processes that go into that funding decision also should also consider public accountability.

The larger the gift, the more important that decisions are taken with thought given to whether those decisions are open to public scrutiny and meet the needs of communities and wider society.

Unless there is an accountability framework in place, how does a donor know that their decisions are truly meeting the needs of the public good?

Tracking transparency, accountability and diversity

It is this line of thinking that led to the Foundation Practice Rating report, which saw its second annual report released today.

The FPR tracks the performance of 100 UK foundations according to their efforts on transparency, accountability and diversity. For true accountability, decisions have to be open to scrutiny and made with fair representation. The rating is based on 77 underlying questions.

The project is led by Friends Provident Foundation and supported by 12 other leading foundations, including Barrow Cadbury Trust, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and City Bridge Trust. 

The sample group includes the 13 foundations that fund the research and the UK’s five largest foundations by grant budget. The other 82 are a stratified random sample from the rest of the foundation market, drawn from among the community foundation and those listed in the Foundation Giving Trends report.

The methodology makes it difficult to compare results across years because the bulk of the sample has changed between years one and two (although the team does check comparability using statistical measures).

Overall, seven foundations received an A grade this year, compared to three last year. The average score overall was up 7%. Transparency is the strongest pillar with 57% scoring an A grade.

A window into a foundation’s practice

Even so, 22 foundations in the sample did not have a website. The report argues that having a website is an essential pillar of transparency, enabling grantees and the wider public to gain a window into a foundation’s practice. No foundation without a website scored above a D.

The report also notes that organisations with fewer than five staff were more likely to gain a D grade. It suggests that having too few staff to develop policy and disclose information could impede both performance and impact.

However, the weakest pillar in both years has been diversity, with 48% scoring a D grade. The report notes that many organisations have diversity commitments, but no evidence of plans or targets.

It is important to note that the rating does not include measures of impact, which it states would be too complex. Instead, it seeks evidence from public sources about whether foundations are transparent about their effectiveness.

The rating is therefore not a measure of how successful a foundation is in delivering its mission, but rather how accountable it is publicly to the communities it serves in the process.

Striking a balance between governance and engagement

The report raises interesting questions for individual and family foundations whose resources are directed primarily at their mission about the level of governance needed to achieve an appropriate level of public accountability.

How can individuals, or families, bring external voices to decision making? What are the opportunities for transparency and openness? And how can they ensure they effectively connect with the needs of grantees and applicants when deciding what and how to fund? 

For founder-led foundations, there is also a critical balance to be struck between governance and engagement. Being present in the work of the foundation, being able to take risks in pursuit of higher social gains, and to feel the psychological rewards from that action, are important motivating factors for many philanthropists. There is an inherent tension between this entrepreneurial spirit of founder philanthropy and the processes that come with greater professionalisation.

The report does not grapple with these issues. Its goal is simply to highlight that all foundations, regardless of size or resourcing, should consider themselves to be on a journey towards a high standard of accountability.

Its approach offers a robust checklist for anyone who might want to consider their next step. 

Cath Dovey CBE

Cath Dovey

Co-founder, The Beacon Collaborative

Formerly a co-founder of Scorpio Partnership, the global wealth management strategy and research firm, Cath led the firm’s high-net-worth and strategy research capabilities for two decades. In the field of philanthropy, she headed Scorpio Partnership’s global research work with major donors, family givers and family foundations. Cath chairs Rosa, the UK fund for women and girls, and is a trustee of Philanthropy Impact.


Recommended reading

  • Foundation Practice Rating results

Related Pages

  • Social equity in philanthropy – management or measurement?

Filed Under: Better Philanthropy, HNW giving data, Philanthropy ecosystem

How many potential philanthropists are there in the UK?

February 17, 2022 by Cath Dovey

wealthy philanthropists header

 

Growing the UK donor pool – Quantity, quantum and quality.

Beacon co-founder Cath Dovey tackles the task of quantifying the high-net-worth philanthropy market in the UK. With only a finite number of individuals in this demographic, she underscores the importance of strong organisation/donor relationships for growing wealthy philanthropy.


I have been spending a lot of time looking at numbers recently  – too much, my colleagues would say. I have been trying to find sources to answer the question: how many potential philanthropists are there in the UK?

On one level, the answer is like the proverbial piece of string. Everyone with the willingness to build a committed relationship with the organisations they support, including time, talent and treasure, could be counted as a potential philanthropist.

But for the purposes of strategic planning, organisations need to know who is willing and able to make gifts of four and more figures.

Before digging into the data, it is important to flag a crucial insight from recent research on barriers to giving: Even among wealthy people, one of the biggest barriers to giving is financial insecurity.

“Even among wealthy people, one of the biggest barriers to giving is financial insecurity.”

While this may sound perverse, let’s remember making money is a risky business. Taking on financial risk in business means many wealthy people guard their personal wealth to protect against future shocks. They are often stretched and worry deeply about having enough for the future.

So, when figuring out how many people have the capacity to give, we can’t just consider how many wealthy people there are, we also need to think about the point at which financial security kicks in.

Exactly how many wealthy individuals are there?

…and how many might be willing to give regularly?

On the quantity question, CapGemini’s World Wealth Report 2021 estimates there are around 573,000 dollar millionaires in the UK. That is people who have $1 million once you exclude their property and any non-liquid assets. It’s a lot of money, but a million dollars (£750,000) in ready cash isn’t what it used to be.

We know from our own research that the giving patterns of millionaires are not that different from the wider population. It is only when we get to the next level of wealth that we start to see generous behaviours emerge.

CapGemini’s research identifies a segment of mid-tier millionaires, those with wealth above $5 million (£3.75 million). With more money, we can expect higher levels of financial security. Globally, 10% of dollar millionaires fit this category, or just over 50,000 wealthy individuals in the UK.

“We know from our own research that the giving patterns of millionaires are not that different from the wider population.”

ONS data, meanwhile, identifies the top 1% of income tax payers to be a group of around 300,000. This group has income greater than £162,000 per year. Again, it is a lot of money, but is it enough for these individuals to feel they have financial security?

Probably not – and here is my reasoning…

HMRC data on giving shows that it is only individuals in the income bracket above £250,000 who have increased their giving in recent years. In this category, total giving has gone up from £1.22 billion in 2015 to £1.98 billion in 2020 – an increase of 62% over five years. But for all other high-income groups, the level of giving has flatlined.

If it takes an income of £250,000 to feel financially secure enough to make regular major gifts, we need to question how many people fit into this bracket. According to the ONS, it is approximately 150,000 people (0.5% of income tax payers).

Taking these findings together suggests that among the UK’s high-net-worth population of around 500,000 we can expect 50,000 – 150,000 to be able and willing to give regularly in large amounts.

“We can expect 50,000 – 150,000 [HNW individuals] to be able and willing to give regularly in large amounts.”

So, where does this leave us?

It is a sobering thought that this number means there are fewer potential regular major donors than there are registered charities in the UK.

Yet it also highlights the critical importance for charities to engage well with their major givers. Wealthy donors typically give to six or seven charities, and it won’t take those individuals long to feel stretched or to switch funding to new charities if the relationship with an organisation isn’t a meaningful one.

“There is, of course, potential for all high-net-worth individuals to give more…”

Non-profit organisations also need to think about how to grow the major donor pool, recognising that just because someone is rich, that does not necessarily make them financially secure enough to make a major gift initially.

There is, of course, potential for all high-net-worth individuals to give more, but given their trepidation, giving may be sporadic until their circumstances change. Maybe they sell their business, or retire, or inherit.

Financial security happens by many means and it is only by getting to know your donors personally, that a fundraiser can anticipate when these magic moment might emerge. When they are ready, a good donor journey can see an individual’s giving increase tenfold.

“When they are ready, a good donor journey can see an individual’s giving increase tenfold.”

Lastly, it is a reminder that philanthropy is a precious resource. Major donors can unlock the capacity for organisations to innovate, to advocate and to grow, but there will always be more opportunities than donors, so thinking about how to present opportunities to them is vital. A case for support is only as good as the relationship behind it.

Knowing how many people have the capacity for major donor giving is one thing, unlocking that potential is more complex and patient work. We need to think as much about the quality of relationships, as we do about quantity or quantum of giving.


Cath Dovey CBE

Cath Dovey

Co-founder, The Beacon Collaborative

Formerly a co-founder of Scorpio Partnership, the global wealth management strategy and research firm, Cath led the firm’s high-net-worth and strategy research capabilities for two decades. In the field of philanthropy, she headed Scorpio Partnership’s global research work with major donors, family givers and family foundations. Cath chairs Rosa, the UK fund for women and girls, and is a trustee of Philanthropy Impact.

Filed Under: Growing Giving, HNW giving data

How Better Data on HNW Giving can sustain Giving Trends

January 10, 2022 by Beacon Admin

philanthropy data

 

Seven cycles of pulse surveying among high-net-worth individuals in the UK, from the height of the pandemic until now, suggest regular giving is increasing among those with higher levels of investable wealth. The results also highlight the need for improved monitoring of giving patterns among the asset rich if we want to sustain growth momentum.


Our latest quarterly survey results – covering the period September to December 2021 –  show the effects of the pandemic are receding on giving patterns, revealing underlying trends in recent UK philanthropy.

The run-up to Christmas 2021 saw an uptick in the number of big gifts by wealthy individuals. With an increase in the average level of giving in all wealth bands, the results suggest growth in seasonal giving was closer to pre-pandemic levels.

The average level of giving jumped to £6,400 in the three months to December, with more than 25% saying they gave more than they had planned.

The median level of giving has also continued on a steady upward trend, reaching £400. The last time the median was at this level was in September 2020 as the pandemic peaked in the UK.

These results come from the Beacon Collaborative’s quarterly pulse survey of high-net-worth giving trends, conducted in partnership with Savanta. The December results are based on survey responses from 514 high-net-worth individuals in the UK[1].

Median Level of Giving by HNWs - philanthropy data

Figure 1: Median level of giving by HNW individuals from June 2020 to December 2021.

Mean Level of Giving by HNWs - philanthropy data

Figure 2: Mean level of giving by HNW individuals from June 2020 to December 2021.

Growing evidence that more wealthy people are starting to give more, more often

While sporadic big gifts are a consistent feature in philanthropy, and are actively sought by most philanthropy fundraisers, it is the gentle increase in the median giving level that offers significant potential. Since June 2020, the survey results suggest compound quarterly growth of around 12% in the median level of giving, from £200 to £400.

Median Level of Giving by all HNWs - philanthropy data

Figure 3: Median level of giving by all HNW individuals from June 2020 to December 2021.

While the quarterly level of giving is still proportionately low in the high-net-worth population, at £400 in December 2021, the median trend suggests more wealthy people have been giving more often at higher levels each quarter since June 2020. This bodes well for engaging more wealthy individuals on their philanthropic journey.

Propensity to give is linked to asset levels (not income)

We began this quarterly analysis at the start of the Covid crisis in order to open a window on the giving trends among high-net-worth donors.

Over this period, a number of distinct patterns are emerging, most notably that those with higher asset-levels do give more – not a lot more, but there is a higher propensity to give major gifts and larger regular gifts.

The consistent upward trend in the median giving level is also noteworthy, particularly as recent analysis from Pro Bono Economics has shown giving levels decreased among top earners between 2011 and 2019.

Mind the Giving Gap uses HMRC income and tax data and determines that those with a median income in the top 1% of earners saw their earnings rise from £247,000 to £271,000 during this period. During the same period, their typical donation fell 20% to £48 per month.

The detailed analysis contained within the report underscores multiple worrying trends that have characterised British giving across the wider population since the financial crisis of 2008, resulting in lower participation rates and lower levels of giving. It also makes a number of valuable suggestions for changing the dynamics of philanthropy in the UK.

The analysis by Pro Bono Economics is thorough and comprehensive, but it is important to note that the conclusions on high-net-worth giving rely on income data and donations reported in self-assessment forms. This represents only a segment of the wealthy population.

The high-earner category includes a sizeable population in the UK that is typically referred to as “cash-rich and asset-poor” by the wealth management community. This means they have high incomes, but their income funds their daily life expenditure and they do not have the extensive savings and investments that provide financial security.

As we can see in Figure 1 and Figure 2, those with lower asset levels typically display a lower median giving level and give fewer large gifts. Among the asset-rich, the dynamics are more positive.

Pro Bono Economics’ analysis will miss significant segments of UK’s asset-rich population, such as those on low or moderate incomes who draw down from investments what is needed for their daily life needs.

Our analysis suggests that an increasing number of individuals in this population are giving more, more regularly. If we want to encourage this trend, then it is imperative that we encourage philanthropy to be seen as a normal part of a “wealthy lifestyle” in the UK, so that income is drawn down to cover their annual gifting goals.

It will also have captured only a proportion of amounts given by wealthy individuals from giving structures, such as donor-advised funds or philanthropic family trusts. These vehicles typically receive infrequent large lump sums that are then gifted out over a period of time.

Key lessons from emerging data on high-net-worth giving patterns

There are a number of key lessons we can draw from these two separate analyses.

  1. Firstly, understanding how much is given philanthropically, and by whom, is a complex challenge requiring multiple data sets that are not easily available.
  2. Secondly, if the asset-rich population shows the highest propensity to give in larger amounts, this population merits greater study for their philanthropic activity.
  3. Thirdly, regular high-net-worth giving, measured by the median, should be monitored as a significant indicator of philanthropic growth. This indicator is more helpful to understand what is happening in the wider wealthy population than tracking one-off big gifts or monitoring the mean (average), which fluctuates significantly in response to sporadic major gifts made by a tiny fraction of any sample group.

If we want to understand the contribution to civil society of the wealthy population, we need to understand how median giving varies across different wealth bands, measured according to their investable assets.

It is only with this insight, measured consistently over time, that the fundraising community and the philanthropic sector will be able to establish and monitor the success of their growth strategies among those with the potential to become significant long-term supporters.

Until we have a baseline, we simply will not be able to assess “what works?” when it comes to growing UK philanthropy.


[1] Given the size of the UK wealthy population the confidence interval in the data is 4%, with a 95% confidence level. This means we can have a good level of confidence that the median figure is accurately within a tight range around £400. Sample sizes for previous quarters have varied from 303 – 514 individuals.

A note on the median and mean

* The median provides an indicator for what is happening to giving across the whole of the wealthy population. The median refers to the exact midpoint of the dataset, with half of respondents giving above this level and half below. 

** The mean is sensitive to levels of giving among the most generous in the wealthy population. This is the average as calculated by adding all datapoints together and dividing by the number of datapoints in the set. It can easily be skewed by a small number of very high-level donors.

Filed Under: HNW giving data

What is the threshold for generosity in the UK today?

October 23, 2020 by Cath Dovey

What is the threshold for generosity in the UK today?

When you start on your giving journey, one of the hardest questions to answer is: “how much is generous?”

Giving is so personal, and traditionally so private, that there are not really any benchmarks for generosity. Talk to friends and neighbours and you may discover you are doing more than most. Look in the media and you will find so many examples of big philanthropy that you might start to wonder if you are generous at all. 

The lack of a shared understanding of what it might mean to be generous in a UK context has resulted in levels of giving that vary hugely among wealthy people – by which we mean from a few hundred pounds to several million. Naturally, everyone feels their own level of giving is generous. 

This may be good for the conscience, but is it helpful?

 

Would it be helpful to have shared understanding of generosity?

In practical terms, an agreed understanding of what it means to be generous might have some real benefits. 

Let’s start with the organisations that are receiving gifts from wealthy individuals. When you give, let’s say, £5,000 to a charity you care about, it might feel like a lot of money to you. Of course, it is in absolute terms. Yet a gift of this size might only keep a very small charity running for a few weeks or months. In a large charity, it will be barely more than a rounding error. 

This can lead to a mismatch of expectations. Thinly-resourced charities don’t have much time to follow up with donors at the best of times and a donation of this size might not even result in a thank you note. That is not a great feeling for you. It might even seem like bad manners under the circumstances and it is certainly no way to start on a giving journey. 

There is a similar problem if you want to get advice or support to make sure your gift does as much good as possible. Gifts at the £5,000 level are not generally big enough to merit much quality time. 

An objective measure of what generous giving looks like would be helpful all round to setting and managing expectations to make sure your giving journey gets off on the right foot.

 

Why does generosity vary so much among the wealthy?

Over the last couple of years we have been working on various data sets to try to answer the question: how much is generous for the UK’s wealthy?

It has not been easy, partly because we have to work with those significant fluctuations of giving within wealth bands. Partly also because, on average, those who are affluent give more as a proportion of their assets than those who are wealthy or very wealthy, which means the only way to construct a generosity threshold is on a continuum for different wealth bands. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to generosity. 

This giving continuum happens for two reasons. Firstly, people give from their income. Wealthy people may have a lot of money invested, but they will typically only draw down the money they need to cover their lifestyle costs. For most wealthy people, this means they have much more tied up in investments than they have in their bank account and consequently the amount they give may be a high portion of their income, but will be a much smaller proportion of their overall assets.

Secondly, people generally think in absolute terms and not in percentages. So, when an individual considers giving £1,000 it sounds like a reasonable amount, but when someone considers giving £100,000 it sounds like a lot. It doesn’t matter if the person has £100,000 or £10 million in the bank and these gifts would represent 1% of assets respectively, the larger number has a perceived higher risk. This is due to an effect called ratio bias and it means people have a tendency to attribute a bigger risk or reward to a bigger absolute number, even if the ratio is the same.

 

Is it possible to develop an objective standard for generosity?

Yet, in spite of these challenges – or more accurately because these biases and behaviours are so commonplace among people – it is possible to construct a model showing what it means to be generous for each wealth band. 

Expressing the values both as a percentage of wealth and in absolute terms, the model shows that someone with between £250,000 and £1 million of investable assets should consider a gift of 1% of assets to be generous. Depending on the level of wealth, this will equate to between £2,500 and £10,000 of giving each year. 

For those with investable assets between £1 million and £5 million, the percentage is 1.1%, or between £11,000 and £55,000. 

Someone with between £5 million and £10 million of assets should aim to give 1.2% of their assets each year, or between £60,000 and £120,000, and so on. 

Wealth level (£)  

Generosity threshold

% of assets given to be considered generous

Amount of annual giving (£)
£100,000 0.9% £900
£250,000 1.0% £2,500
£500,000 1.0% £5,000
£1,000,000 1.1% £11,000
£5,000,000 1.2% £60,000
£10,000,000 1.2% £120,000
£100,000,000 1.4% £1,400,000
£1,000,000,000 1.7% £17,000,000
£10,000,000,000 2.0% £200,000,000

Figure 1: The UK’s Generosity Threshold – Source: Beacon Collaborative

The model is based on data from a survey on giving habits that we conducted in 2019 among 1,300 wealthy individuals. We combined this with supplementary data from the Sunday Times Giving List and the Coutts Million Pound Donors Report to ensure we were capturing data from individuals whose giving is known to be generous.

We then used statistical methods to determine objectively what it means to be “generous” at each level of wealth.

 

Why do we need a starting point for generosity?

It is important to note that these values are the threshold for generosity. In other words, this amount is the starting point for what might be considered to be generous. Within each wealth band there will be individuals who give well above this level for family, religious, cultural or other reasons. 

For most wealthy people, however, these thresholds will be a significant stretch from their current levels of giving. In 2019’s survey, the median level of giving among wealthy people was £4,000. This means around half of the UK’s millionaires would have multiply their giving by 4x or even 40x for it to reach the generosity threshold, depending of course on how rich they are. 

We don’t expect this will happen overnight. It will take time for wealthy people to gain confidence, build relationships and access the support they need to move forward on their giving journeys. 

Equally, we don’t want these threshold values to be seen as an expectation or judgement. Giving is a voluntary act and it is important that people are free to give at the levels that are right for their own circumstances, values and beliefs. 

Rather, for those starting on their giving journey, we hope the threshold may become an aspiration. For experienced givers, it may be a benchmark that they long-since have surpassed. 

For the wider philanthropy sector, however, we hope it creates a shared understanding of what serious giving looks like and feels like for individuals in different wealth bands. 

Fundraisers, take note that a £5,000 gift from someone with £500,000 in assets is not to be sneezed at. Wealth advisers should beware that when a client with £5 million considers a gift of £60,000, they will greatly value your support, because this is a big deal relative to their wealth. 

And for the philanthropy sector as a whole, if we can give more wealthy people the confidence to donate at these levels, it will be a measure of our success in enabling meaningful giving journeys. 


Filed Under: HNW giving data

In May 2025 The Beacon Collaborate merged with NPC. © 2025 Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust | Registered charity, Charity No 1096423, Reg in England No 4689391 | EDI policy | Privacy policy | Website by Charity & Biscuits

  • LinkedIn