Posted on 5th March 2009
Nearly 52% of wealthy Americans would maintain their giving if they did not receive income tax deductions for their donations, finds the 2008 Bank of America Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy.
The study provides new insights into the giving behaviours of America’s wealthiest donors, and builds on the largest survey of wealthy Americans, conducted for Bank of America by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in 2006.
Published this month the new 2008 study followed much of the same methodology as the initial 2006 study in order to identify key trends and to provide even deeper insights into the motivations and attitudes of wealthy donors.
It is the result of randomly surveying over 20,000 households in high net-worth neighborhoods across the country and reflects the responses of nearly 700 respondents with household income greater than $200,000 and/or net-worth of at least $1,000,000 excluding primary residence.
In a continuing trend from the 2006 study, the 2008 research finds that wealthy donors have high expectations of charitable organisations, ranking sound business practices (93%) as the most important when determining which to support.
In 2007, more than 40% of survey respondents indicated that they stopped supporting one or more charitable organisations. Critical factors for this include no longer feeling connected to the organization (57.7%), deciding to support other causes (51.3%), and feeling they were being solicited too often (42.3%).
“Our clients are taking a more proactive approach to integrating philanthropy into their wealth management strategies. We are noticing that the turbulent economic environment has motivated these individuals to play a more active role in charitable decisions in terms of what they give, to whom and when,” said Cary Grace, Head of Bank of America Philanthropic Management.
The full report is available on the Bank of America website.
