New Philanthropy Capital is to conduct a major study into what motivates the wealthy to give to charity.

The study, which New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) says is the first research of this scale in the UK, will include a survey of over 2,000 medium and high-income households as well as in-depth interviews.

It is being supported by the Pears Foundation, Oak Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Nesta.

NPC chief executive Dan Corry said the research, called Money for Good, will be a great opportunity for charities to understand the information they need to give their donors to inspire more giving:

“Understanding this is even more important at present as the state is clearly withdrawing from certain areas and civil society is being asked to pick up the slack,” he said.

"Working as we do with both charities and funders we see the potential to transform how they work together to improve the lives of those who benefit from the services provided by charities and social enterprises.”

When Hope Consulting conducted the original Money for Good research in the US in 2009/10 they found that US donors were willing to give $20bn more if the giving experience better met their needs.

The UK research aims to find out how important the impact of their giving is to donors and how charities should communicate what they do and the difference they make.

NPC is talking with Ipsos MORI about partnering on the project and will also be working with Hope Consulting.

The results of the research into donor motivations will be shared with charities, wealth advisers and the sector as a whole. It will work with a group of leading charities to test new approaches to fundraising informed by a deeper understanding of what donors want. 

NPC plans to ask key figures from the sector to join an advisory board for this study to maximise its potential usefulness to all. The main findings from the research will be published in November 2012.