A report has found that 32 people with a combined wealth of £18.2bn created new grant-making trusts in the UK this year, and 84 per cent of them are self-made millionaires.

Data screening company Factary has published Foundations of Wealth 2012 on the UK’s newest philanthropists. Using its database of donations to UK causes, the firm has identified an eclectic list of wealthy donors, each of which has an estimated £10m or more in identifiable assets.

As well as people from financial services, retail and property sectors, they include actor Ralph Fiennes (pictured), wine merchant Barbara Laithwaite and fashion designer Jasper Conran.

The causes that many of these philanthropists supported before they created their foundations are equally diverse, ranging from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Ovarian Cancer Action and the London School of Economics.

Philanthropy crossing borders

“The report shows the way in which philanthropy has become international,” advised a Factary spokesperson. “It suggests a trend towards US citizens creating trusts and foundations in the UK – three of the 32 philanthropists are from the USA.”

Other information in the report includes the average age of the trust and foundation settlors - 58.7 years old, with nearly half (47 per cent) being over 65 and 81 per cent being over 50.

Only 10 per cent are female, although this is weighted by the fact that when it is a husband and wife that have founded a charitable trust the man is featured if it is their professional career that is the source of wealth.