Philanthropy Impact - Public Affairs Policy Positions: A Summary

Report
December 2018
Philanthropy Impact
Philanthropy Impact – increasing philanthropic giving and social investment
 
Philanthropy Impact (www.philanthropy-impact.org) is a charitable organisation whose mission is to increase philanthropic giving and social investment – more and better giving. We work with professional advisers to (U) HNWI (ultra-high net worth and high net worth individuals) to grow and enhance the quality of the support they give to their clients, the UK’s wealthiest individuals, around philanthropy and social investment.
 

We are a membership organisation for private client advisers, wealth management, private banking, independent financial advice, tax and legal sectors; as well as individual philanthropists and social investors, trusts and foundations, charities and social enterprises.

We act as a knowledge hub and centre of excellence offering events, specialist knowledge sharing, training, voluntary standards and sector and government liaison.
 
We represent over 200 members, including professional services firms and individual members, and we have outreach to and multiple contacts with a further 9,100 individuals and 3,584 organisations.
 
The focus of our responses
 
We believe there are critical questions related to tax relief that should be addressed regarding:
 
  • How the existing taxation rules could be simplified to make them more accessible to individuals and their advisers.
  • How can we encourage greater innovation around the existing reliefs to create new opportunities for individuals and their advisers to engage with philanthropic giving and social investment.
We have provided examples in each of these categories below, in addition to responding to the specific tax reliefs.
 
We recognise that any variation to the tax code or to legislation in the UK will require additional evidence-building on the costs and benefits to the Exchequer and the public purse; however we believe the opportunity to unlock far greater private assets for the charitable sector merits serious investigation.
 
We believe an important outcome is acknowledgement of the need for detailed investigation on the role of taxation policy to stimulate greater giving among individuals.
 
Our recommendations focus on philanthropy, venture philanthropy and social investment (the left side of the continuum below). We include social investment because in many cases the motivation underpinning a philanthropist’s involvement in social investment is seen as an extension of their philanthropy which is to achieve some societal good with the possibility of some financial return.