New Survey Shows Why the Wealthy Give to Charity

By Marty Michaels

Nearly 90 percent of the wealthiest Americans say the primary reason they give to charity is that they believe in specific causes and have a desire to "give back" to society, according to a new survey.

Far fewer respondents — 33 percent — cited income-tax deductions as a reason for their charitable giving, and just 24 percent cited maintaining a family tradition of philanthropy.

When asked about the values they hoped to instill in their children, 82 percent of affluent parents cited a sense of the importance of philanthropy and charitable giving, while 80 percent said they hoped to teach that wealth brings "social responsibilities."

The survey, which is conducted annually by U.S. Trust, a wealth-management company in New York, polled 264 Americans with assets of $5-million or more. That sample differs from previous surveys, which included respondents who had household incomes of at least $300,000 or a net worth of $5.9-million or more, including their primary residence.

Wealthy Americans also said that accountability and "transparency" at nonprofit groups are major factors in deciding whether they would increase their charitable giving: Seventy-three percent said that it was paramount that they hold the leaders of a charity in high esteem, while 61 percent said they would consider increasing their donations if they had greater access to information about a charity's performance and its use of donations.

Nearly 7 in 10 respondents said that they plan to leave some of their assets to charity. Of those, 42 percent said they planned, to set up charitable bequests; 30 percent, charitable trusts; 27 percent, family foundations; 20 percent, charitable-gift annuities; and 17 percent, donor-advised funds.

Two-thirds of those with philanthropic intentions cited academic institutions and health-related groups as the organizations most likely to benefit from that largess, followed by religious groups (43 per cent), libraries or museums (39 percent), and environmental or public-policy groups (36 percent).

Copies of the report, 2007 U.S. Trust Survey of Affluent Americans, are available free on the company's Web site.