Wealthy Donors Keep On Giving

By Matt Brady

September 9, 2009, Forbes — Despite managing through the worst economic conditions the U.S. has seen since the Great Depression, high-net-worth individuals are still committed to charitable giving. In fact, in many cases, they are now more generous than in years past, according to results of a survey of 500 high-net-worth and ultra-high -net-worth individuals in the U.S. and U.K. conducted by Barclays Wealth and Ledbury Research.

Barclays found that 75% of high-net-worth individuals (with average investable assets of $5.4 million) do not plan to donate less money in the current economic environment. Although about 23% of the high-net-worth individuals surveyed reduced donations, only about 10% planned a large cutback. (Charitable giving is actually one of the last expenses--just before education costs--that investors are willing to scrap in tough times. Luxury goods are the first to get eliminated, followed by personal staff and dining out.)