The research carried out by Heartwood Wealth Management revealed heartening figures for future charitable giving but also highlighted – perhaps predictably – that having children has a huge effect on the size of the donations wealthy individuals make to charity: while 78 per cent of HNW individuals who were parents said they plan to leave an average of £10,394 or 3 per cent of their total assets to charity, with the childless this amount more than quadrupled to 13.2 per cent, an average of £35,564 each.

In examining the reasons that HNW individuals may not allocate more of their estate to charitable giving, the firm found that a third of respondents (33 per cent) felt that they had already given enough to good causes, while nearly one in ten (9 per cent) expressed doubts as to whether charities spend their funds wisely. The clear leader was however the wish to leave money to future generations, with half of those surveyed saying they favoured keeping their inheritance in the family over giving it to charity. According to Heartwood’s figures, on average 84 per cent of an inheritance is earmarked for children and grandchildren.

Charitable giving from the super-wealthy is currently high on the agenda, with several billionaires, such as Bill and Melinda Gates and Barron Hilton, having indicated that they intend to give away huge proportions of their assets to charity. Heartwood’s survey nevertheless proves that charitable giving is a real priority for individuals lower down the wealth scale and underscores an appetite for philanthropy-related advice.