The Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report offers valuable insights into philanthropy in South Africa!
Johannesburg, South Africa (23 November 2022) – They say that in times of tragedy, look for the helpers as they will always be there. And according to Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the Gift of the Givers, South Africa is filled with so many of them. These are the heroes we need to be celebrating and the Giving Report 2022 offers valuable insights into all the people in our country making significant positive differences!
Dr Sooliman was a keynote speaker at the launch of The Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report 2022 event and believes that philanthropy is alive and well in South Africa, a sign of hope for a better tomorrow.
The fifth edition of the Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report, a bi-annual survey that investigates the giving practices of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in South Africa, found that despite the lingering economic challenges evident in post-pandemic South Africa, affluent members of society are still committed to giving of their money, time and talents to help and support vulnerable people and communities.
According to Marilize Lansdell, Managing Executive: Wealth Management, South Africa, while the 2022 Giving Report reveals some changes in giving habits – due to a variety of factors, not least the impact of Covid-19 – the philanthropic spirit is still alive and well in South Africa.
“No less than 83% of the HNWIs surveyed for this latest Giving Report gave of their money, time or skills during 2021,” Lansdell says, “with approximately R4.2 billion in cash, R2,6 billion worth of goods and services, and a total of 3,2 million hours of physical volunteerism provided.”
Lansdell points out that, while few HNWIs changed their giving practices in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the findings of the 2022 Giving Report do point to a few notable shifts in the overall giving landscape. “While the size of the giving market increased in 2021, there was a significant decline in the amount of volunteering,” she explains, “which is understandable given the national lockdowns that continued into this period, and associated social distancing protocols.”
Lansdell explains that these restrictions also resulted in the majority of giving during the period taking the form of cash donations, which are a safer and more convenient way of providing support.
Despite this, the total value of cash donations declined by roughly R2 billion from 2018, which was the last time the Giving Report survey was undertaken.
“It’s likely that this drop in the overall value of cash giving is a direct result of the economic challenges created by the pandemic, which resulted in a declining income levels for many South Africans, including affluent individuals,” she explains.
Her assumption is borne out by the report finding that around 21% of survey respondents felt less financially secure than they did prior to the pandemic.
However, on balance, the positive findings of the 2022 Giving Report far outweigh any short-term, Covid-related negatives. For one, the findings point to a sustainable philanthropy sector in South Africa. In previous years, the demographics regarding givers were skewed towards predominantly White, older HNWIs. The latest Giving Report shows a more even distribution of givers across the 36 to 50- and 50 to 65-year-old sub-segments. Importantly, the number of givers in the 18 to 35 age group was at an all-time high, pointing to a growing new generation of HNWIs with a commitment to giving.
And the latest survey findings also reinforce the all-important racial and gender philanthropic transformation trends observed in previous Giving Reports.
“We are increasingly seeing the impact of South Africa’s transformation filter through into the giving landscape,” Lansdell says, “with women now making up more than 50% of givers, and roughly one in four givers being Black South Africans.”
In addition to unpacking these significant trends in more detail, the 2022 Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report includes a number of compelling commentaries by various industry leaders on the value and importance of giving as a driver of social and environmental change.
According to Lansdell, the Giving Report serves as a valuable underpin to Nedbank Private Wealth’s award-winning philanthropy services and helps ensure that the giving advice it provides to its individual and business clients enables them to deliver a consistently positive and sustainable impact on society.
“In the 12 years since we released our first Giving Report, it has become widely respected as a valuable resource for all South African philanthropy sector stakeholders,” Lansdell says, “and this 2022 issue is especially significant given the important insights and lessons it contains regarding sustainable and meaningful giving in a world that has been fundamentally altered by Covid-19.”
Click here to download the Giving Report.
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