Rich stingier after Covid — bank survey
Wealthy South Africans have become stingier with Covid-19
— and the stingiest people within this demographic cohort are overwhelmingly white. That is according to the findings of the fifth Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report, which investigates the giving practices of SA’s population of about 147,800 high-net worth individuals.
Wealthy South Africans have become stingier with Covid-19 — and the stingiest people within this demographic cohort are overwhelmingly white.
That is according to the findings of the fifth Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report, a biannual survey that investigates the giving practices of SA’s population of about 147,800 high net worth individuals (HNWIs).
The survey defines HNWIs as those earning at least R1.5m a year or with investable assets of more than R5m, excluding their primary residence.
While the survey found that HNWIs donated R4.2bn in cash, R2.6bn in goods and services and R3.2m worth of hours of their time in 2021, this was a sharp fall from the previous report that was based on findings from 2018.
The previous Giving Report showed HNWIs donated about R6.1bn in cash, R3.1bn in goods and services; and R4.3m worth of hours of their time in 2018.
“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,” said Marilize Lansdell, managing executive for wealth management at Nedbank.
Given that Nedbank’s latest Giving Report coincided with the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, it asked HNWIs to define how they felt about their personal financial security.
Roughly a fifth of them said they felt less financially secure than before the pandemic, though more than half (55%) said they felt as secure as they were previously while 24% felt more financially secure.
The survey showed that just under a fifth of sampled HNWIs (17%) did not give cash, goods or time in 2021.
While this was attributed mostly to changes in personal financial circumstances in the wake of Covid-19, a fifth of people called nongivers (19%) cited a lack of trust as their reason for not being charitable.
Interestingly, the vast majority of nongivers (71%) were white although it must be said that this demographic constitutes 60% of the population of HNWIs surveyed by Nedbank.
Nevertheless, the demographics of SA’s wealthy are changing rapidly, with about a quarter of all respondents (24%) now being defined as black Africans compared with only 13% in 2010.
For the first time, women also accounted for more than half (55%) of the sample size of HNWIs compared with 48% in 2018 and about a third in earlier surveys.
The profile of the givers — those who did donate cash, goods or time — also become more diverse with 56% of givers being female in 2021, compared with 45% in 2018.
There was also a higher proportions of black African philanthropists with this demographic accounting for 26% of givers in 2021, compared with 17% in 2018.
“We are increasingly seeing the impact of SA’s transformation filter through into the giving landscape,” said Lansdell.
However, Covid-19 continued to affect the behaviour of HNWIs in 2021, which saw the proportion of givers who volunteered drop to 43%, from 56% in 2018.
“There was a significant decline in the amount of volunteering, which is understandable given the national lockdowns that continued into this period, and associated social distancing protocols,” said Lansdell.