Philanthropy is slowly building as a popular choice amongst Australia’s rich and elite.
Donations of large amounts have become more common, with a bigger emphasis being on the well-publicised and marketed public approach.
Mining magnate, Andrew Forrest recently made a donation of $400 million dollars to various charities, making it the single largest philanthropic donation by a living person in Australian history.
While there may be some scepticism about the motivations of donations being brought into the public, it could be argued the extra publicity would encourage others to make large donations to worthy causes.
There are roughly 150 philanthropic trusts and foundations throughout Australia each with between $10 million and $300 million in assets.
While donations are on the increase in Australia, we still have a way to go before we catch up to the United States.
In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook set up a Philanthropic project which currently holds assets worth $45 billion dollars. His donation is just one example of scale of US giving.
If you would like to learn more about Philanthropy, please contact our office.