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Million pound donations raise over £1.3bn

174 generous individuals, trusts and corporations made ‘million pound or more donations’ during 2009/2010, raising a total over £1.3 billion for worthwhile causes, according to a report by Coutts bank.

Although levels of giving are down 15% on donations in the 2008/2009 period, the results of the ‘Coutts Million Pound Donor Report’ show that high net worth individuals are still the most significant source of gifts, contributing £782 million, or 60% of the total value.

The most frequent size of gifts was found to be exactly £1 million, an amount which has both economic and psychological significance for donors.

Maya Prabhu, Head of UK Philanthropy at Coutts said: “The results of this study demonstrate the significant contribution that individuals are making to charitable causes at the highest level. In just four years, we have been able to track 757 gifts, totally £6 billion.

“While it is clearly important to take steps to encourage more people to start giving, and to encourage those who can to give more, it is also important to pause and celebrate the contribution of individuals and trusts at the most significant levels of philanthropy.”

In the 2009/2010 period, 10% of all gifts were larger than £10 million, and were given to charitable trusts and foundations rather than directly as donations to operational charities.

Beth Breeze, Author of the Report, commented: “Before we started this annual study of million pound donations, there was no clear understanding of the scale, role and significance of the largest philanthropic acts in the UK.

“That was an important gap in our knowledge that needed filling, because we need a proper understanding of current levels of support in order to make robust plans for developing this much-needed source of income in the future.

“The data and analysis provided by the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent is helping charities, fundraisers and policymakers to build a decent knowledge base about major giving and gain a better understanding of the main trends in contemporary UK philanthropy, which should help the UK to develop a stronger culture of philanthropy.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .