City high fliers need more structure to their giving, says think tank

Fundraising | Gemma Ware | 1 Jan 2008

An extra £4bn a year could be raised if professionals in the financial services industry donated 5 per cent of their estimated salaries and bonuses to charity, according to a new report from the Policy Exchange think tank.

The report, Give and Let Give: Building a culture of philanthropy in the financial services industry, was based on interviews with leading figures in the city, including Stanley Fink, deputy chair of the Man group and vice chair of Goldman Sachs, Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach.

It made a number of recommendations for how to break down barriers to philanthropy, including an opt-out charitable account that would be part of a joining package for all employees; a targeted awareness campaign explaining the tax incentives of giving shares instead of hard cash; and the development of a special website to inform the high-net worth and financially literate about philanthropy, funded by financial services companies.

The Policy Exchange acknowledged the impact of the current credit crunch on city bonuses, predicting that the projected figure of £7.4bn for 2007 would be down 16 per cent from last year. However, it said: “Giving levels will naturally be affected by income and bonuses, but the culture needs to remain constant.”

Directory: Thinktank Promotions
Who's Who: Gemma Ware

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.