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Don't rush to regulate

Fundraising | Nick Cater | 5 May 2010

Nick Cater urges caution about legal controls for philanthropic advice.

We should not be surprised by the as-yet limited development of philanthropic advice in the UK, recently highlighted by both a new report from New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) and the launching of the Philanthropy Advice Steering Group, chaired by the ambassador for philanthropy Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley, to share ideas and promote such advice.

As Dame Steve's important ambassadorial work has shown, we have a long way to go in this country to catch up with US philanthropic endeavours in both the quantity and quality of giving, in part because of our less friendly legal and tax regime but also because of the lack of role models willing to cast aside British reserve and talk openly about money.

That past reserve is waning, and watching the many videos of philanthropists discussing their giving on the website Dame Steve inspired, ambassadorforphilanthropy.com (disclosure: among my roles, I am senior editor of the site), one can see what a steep learning curve some of them have had to climb.

Those who have had the support of a dedicated family office or an adviser like NPC have clearly both found the journey easier and valued that advice in giving focus and structure to their donations. Advisers can also help in areas such as family dynamics, using philanthropy as a far less stressful subject for discussion and agreement than wealth management or asset inheritance.

As advisers and services expand, the temptation is to demand that legal controls be placed over this unregulated field, which could take time and risk stifling development and growth. Better for now - and far quicker to create - might be some self-regulation, with a register, thresholds to reach and a transparent complaint mechanism.

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Directory: New Philanthropy Capital
Who's Who: Dame Stephanie Shirley