Charity from HNW investors needed
Charity organisations should think more strategically about attracting donations from high-net-worth investors, according to Michael Traill, the chief executive of Social Ventures Australia.
Traill made the comments in an address to a philanthropy forum hosted by Russell Investment Group. The forum was held to discuss how the investor community could increase donations to charity.
“It is true that charitable donations by high-net-worth Australians currently lag those of their counterparts in rich countries such as the United States,” said Traill.
“This, however, presents Australian non-profit groups with a huge opportunity to attract additional donors by getting them to view giving as a form of ‘social investing’, which they should engage in throughout their lives in the same way as they would normally invest.”
Clare Stanford, head of philanthropy at Trust Company, who joined the forum, said that the emergence of self-made Australian entrepreneurs and the increase in property and business sales was having an “enormous” impact on charitable giving, but increasing access to charity organisations made competition harder.
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