Some wealthy donors still giving

July 28, 2009

While their investments have been hammered by falling markets, wealthy donors in the U.S. and U.K. are still digging deep to support causes they care about, a new study says.

Wealthy donors would rather forego comforts than reduce their charitable giving and more than three-fourths say they won't decrease their giving because of the downturn, says the report from Barclays Wealth.

While high-net-worth donors have cut back donations by 2.2 percent, younger "contrarian givers" have upped their gifts by three percent to four percent to help nonprofits weather the recession.

"According to the report's findings, there is a remarkable resilience among wealthy givers," Matt Brady, head of Wealth Advisory for Barclays, says in a statement. "The fact that we're seeing levels of giving maintained in such a challenging economic environment is a real statement of intent and underscores the importance of philanthropy."

Women now give more of their wealth than men, with American women donating 3.5 percent of their net worth, compared to 1.8 percent for men.

And Americans donate four times as much to charity than do the British.

Overall, almost half of high-level donors, those who give more than $10,000 a year, aim to give away their money during their lifetimes so they can see the impact their donations have on society.

The report was conducted by Ledbury Research.

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