British Organizations Expand Services for Donors

Businesses and nonprofit groups in Britain are offering innovative services for philanthropists seeking more-active involvement in how their gifts are spent, reports the Financial Times.

Both companies and charitable institutions now offer a wide range of programs, such as tracking how donations are spent and creating workshops for international donors to build their knowledge, skills, and philanthropic networks.

Banks are among the businesses seizing on the interest of this new generation of donors, many of whom have entrepreneurial backgrounds. Citi and UBS, for example, have expanded their financial services to serious philanthropists. UBS offers an audit process to compare the relative effectiveness of nonprofit groups for interested donors, while Citi facilitates meetings between charities and the donors consider making a major gift.

Sal LaSpada, chief executive of Britain’s Institute for Philanthropy, says that those types of services are a result of an emerging desire by donors to ensure that their gifts make a difference and lead to major changes.

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