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£100m extra to frontline services from major donors, says Coutts report 1

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 9 Nov 2009

An extra £100m has been allocated to frontline charitable activity by major philanthropists, according to this year’s Coutts Million Pound Donors report.

Million-pound-plus donations have been largely resilient to the recession, according to the report. Some 189 donations of £1m or more were made in 2007/2008, just 6 per cent fewer than in the previous financial year.

The total value of million-pound-plus donations stands at £1.41bn in 2007/2008, down 13 per cent from 2006/2007 – the first year that Coutts & Co and the University of Kent began reporting on trends in high-end philanthropy.

The recession year saw a complete turnaround in how major donors designated their gifts. In the pre-recession year, the majority of such £1m-plus were earmarked to be banked, but over 2007/2008 57 per cent of major donations were designated for frontline services, equating to an extra £103m for charitable activities in comparison to the previous year.

The amount of money donated for the purposes of being banked dropped by more than £300m, from £913m in the 2006/2007 to £597m in the most recent year on record. A total of £808m went to charitable activities in 2007/08 in contrast to £705m in 2006/07.

Beth Breeze, the author of the report, said it was “heartening” that not only is “UK philanthropy is far more resilient than many people have suggested”, but that major philanthropists are responding to the recession by investing more in frontline activity.

As with last year, higher education received the largest proportion of 'spent' donations worth more than £1m. Arts and culture and international development were the two next popular causal areas, muscling out health causes, which last year claimed the number two spot.

“The causes preferred by donors able to give £1m or more differ from those picked by less wealthy donors, who tend to favour medical research, children’s charities and overseas aid,” said Breeze. She added that “while the destination of their donations may be different, the things that the rich and not-so-rich care about are not actually worlds apart… Million pound donations to [universities] might sound a bit elitist but they can be of benefit to disadvantaged people in the UK and overseas.”

The majority (51 per cent) of donations worth more than £1m came from wealthy individuals, with two-fifths from trusts and foundations. Eleven per cent of such gifts were made by companies, up from 9 per cent in the year previous.

The median gift made dropped marginally, from £2m in 2006/2007 to £1.9m in the latest year.

Two-fold rise in anonymous donations

The report identified a doubling in the number of high-value donations made anonymously; albeit an increase from two to four. The increase in the UK corrolates to an three-fold increase in the number of anonymous high-value donations made in the USA.

The report authors identified three primary reasons for the trend: an aversion to ostentatious giving by the wealthy in times of global frugality; wanting to avoid giving any impression that support will be long-term; and that the donor may be increasing support of one organisation while winding down support of another.

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