August 10, 2000 | Read Time: 3 minutes
By THOMAS J. BILLITTERI
Wealthy technology executives gave 6 percent of their after-tax income to charity last year,
donating an average of $20,000 each, according to a new study. Those surveyed said they gave most frequently to human-service, educational, and religious groups.
Ninety-nine percent of the technology executives who responded to the survey, which was sponsored by U.S. Trust Corporation, in New York, said that they made charitable contributions in 1999.
That finding parallels that of another new study of affluent people, by Bankers Trust Private Banking, also in New York. The Bankers Trust study, which surveyed people from a variety of occupations whose assets totaled at least $5-million, found that more than 97 percent contributed to charities in 1997 and that 65 percent gave to political causes.
In the U.S. Trust Corporation study of technology executives, more than two-thirds of respondents said that in 1999 they supported human-services charities, educational groups, and religious organizations. Sixty percent of them said that they gave to groups that serve children and youths, and 54 percent said they gave to cultural organizations. Only about one-fourth of respondents gave to athletic or animal-welfare organizations, and 27 percent gave to environmental groups.
The U.S. Trust study surveyed 150 professionals in technology who are among the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.
“The technology sector has been one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. economy in the past decade and one of the primary generators of personal wealth in this country,” Jeffrey S. Maurer, president of U.S. Trust Corporation, said in a statement.
The Bankers Trust survey was conducted among 112 households, including 30 with a net worth of more than $50-million, by researchers at the Boston College Social Welfare Research Institute and the University of Massachusetts Boston Center for Survey Research.
The Bankers Trust study found that contributions to charitable and political causes averaged 22 percent of the respondents’ family income, or $1.1-million per family. Amounts contributed varied widely, however, from $1,700 to more than $36-million, according to a report on the study.
The study found that the amount and percentage of income contributed to charity increased with the respondents’ level of wealth.
Among families with a net worth of $100-million or more, for example, the average contribution was $5.5-million, or 57 percent of income. Among families with a net worth of $5-million to $10-million, the average contribution was $65,780, or 10.6 percent of income. Families with a net worth of $1-million to $5-million contributed an average of $13,113, or 3.5 percent of income.
Ninety-three percent of the respondents indicated that their giving would increase if they found an additional worthy cause about which they felt passionately, according to Paul G. Schervish, director of the Social Welfare Research Institute at Boston College, who coordinated the study.
Eighty-eight percent said that a higher personal net worth would elevate their giving, while 74 percent said that increased tax benefits would do so, Mr. Schervish said. Sixty-six percent said that they would give more if they had better information about the effectiveness of their donations to particular causes, he said.
About 86 percent of respondents said that they served at least one hour in an average month as a volunteer for a charitable or political cause. The average time devoted to volunteer service was 15.4 hours a month. Respondents said that they often served as a member of a charity board of directors or in another leadership position.
Nearly 90 percent of respondents to the Bankers Trust survey said that they had a written estate plan. They said that, on average, they expected 16 percent of their assets to go to charity after their deaths, 47 percent to heirs, and 37 percent to the government in the form of taxes. Respondents said that if they had their way, 26 percent of their assets would go to charity, 64 percent to heirs, and only 9 percent for taxes.
To receive a free copy of the Bankers Trust study, “Wealth with Responsibility Study/2000,” call the company at (800) 454-0353.
To receive a free copy of the “U.S. Trust Survey of Affluent Americans XVIII” call Allison Cooke Kellogg at U.S. Trust, (212) 852-1134, or send an e-mail request to jan_senger@ustrust.com.
