More than one in five financial advisers do not know how to support wealthy clients to become philanthropists, research has found.
A Charities Aid Foundation survey of more than 200 independent financial advisers, wealth managers and planners found that just 5 per cent of advisers said they were very confident giving advice on philanthropy.
The research, carried out in October, found that half of respondents said this was due to a lack of training in the profession.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents did not include philanthropy as part of their initial fact-finding with clients, despite 21 per cent saying they saw a direct link between providing philanthropic advice and winning new business.
Researchers found 42 per cent of advisers said they planned to increase their knowledge of philanthropy and how to advise clients on it, but 22 per cent said they did not know where to signpost clients to.
Of those asked, 56 per cent said they saw giving philanthropy advice as an opportunity to get to know their clients better and nearly half said it makes them feel closer to them.
But demand for this support is surging among younger affluent generations, CAF said. A separate survey of 500 high-net-worth individuals conducted by CAF found that more than half (62 per cent) of 18-to-34-year-olds think an adviser could help them with their philanthropy.
For those aged between 35 and 54, this figure was 49 per cent.
A third of those consulted consider themselves to be philanthropists, with 62 per cent saying that giving to charity was an important part of their life.
Mark Greer, managing director of giving and impact at CAF, said: “The next generation are expected to be the most significant donors in history. But it is how they approach their giving that makes them different from previous generations.
“As philanthropy advisers, we know it is essential to understand the motivations, values and attitudes of clients, as well as the mechanisms available to them, to ensure philanthropy is as effective as it can be.”
CAF is calling for increased awareness and training in the UK for financial professionals about philanthropy, to ensure that some of the £5.5tn set to pass between generations in the next 30 years is donated to charities.
Greer added: “We would like to see philanthropy added to continuing professional development and industry qualifications for financial advisers to ensure that private client advisers are able to better meet the needs of their clients.
“Forward-thinking advisers looking to provide a holistic service to the next generation would be amiss to ignore this rich topic of engagement.”