Asian women have always been involved with philanthropy in the background, but are now stepping forward for a more prominent role, says Coutts.

Women in the US are the sole decision maker or an equal partner in decisions about philanthropy in nearly 90 per cent of high net worth individual couples, according to a study from Bank of America Merrill Lynch last year.

Meanwhile in the UK, the Charities Aid Foundation in its research on UK Giving, notes that while men give larger sums, many more women give.

But is this the case in Asia, and what does this mean for non-profit organisations and donor families?

Maya Prabhu, executive director for philanthropy services at the Coutts Institute, a division of UK private bankCoutts, believes that Asian women have always been heavily involved in giving, but are now stepping forward and taking a more prominent role.

“There is a strong tradition of women being involved in philanthropy around the world, including in Asia,” she said. “They have tended to be quite low key and ‘in the background’ but have informally played a very important role as donors, as fundraisers and as volunteers. Linked to that, informally, women have always played an important role in developing, cementing and transmitting family values – they are often called the chief emotional officer in the house; and that is because they know what is happening with member of the family, how everyone is feeling, linking siblings, patching relationships up, talking about values, and bringing up the children.”

The family context

Women tend to live longer than men, which could put a greater role in the hands of female family members
presiding over the intergenerational transfer of wealth and
the communication of family values and legacy.

“Women will be stewards of a major intergenerational transfer of wealth. In addition, women are gaining prominence as business leaders in their own right and so have significant resources at their disposal,” she said.

Also, with smaller family sizes, many prominent business families see their daughter playing a significant role in their businesses as owners and even actively working in the business, said Prabhu.

She added that philanthropy has increasingly become an integral aspect for families of wealth, whether they own family-owned businesses or are entrepreneurs or professionals. "It is about values, about the glue that keeps the family together, it is about legacy, about how the family prepares the next generation to manage wealth, how the family prepares the next generation to understand the opportunity and privileges that wealth brings," she said.

Philanthropy in general and family foundations in particular provide a natural forum for families to discuss and express their values and to work together across and between generations, which is why women are emerging as leaders of many family foundations.

In
the Asian context – some of the key drivers for philanthropy are religious
beliefs and spiritual convictions.  The
types of causes that a majority of people focus can also reflect cultural
values – for instance Asians like to support causes
related to education. A good education is highly valued and respected in the Asian
culture, said Prabhu.

Another
characteristic about Asian philanthropy is
that people tend to be very private about what they do, she said. But this is changing as it becomes more widely discussed in the family context.

Tapping the trend

So what does the rise in women’s role in philanthropy mean to wealth advisors?  Mainly that it will be increasingly important to speak to the women in the family, as well as the men, said Prabhu.

“At Coutts, we have viewed this as important an integral to our work with families,” she said. The bank has developed a Coutts Women network, which works with the most senior women from a philanthropy, business and investments perspective, and puts them together in specialist events.

For clients, it has hosted the Coutts Women & Philanthropy Forum annually since 2008, for its female customers to share insights. Speakers have included prominent women philanthropists.

Prabhu believes that women as philanthropists tend to be more collaborative when it comes to philanthropy – they want to hear from others, they are more open to working with others. “When women get together to talk about philanthropy, it is a more of a ‘learning and sharing’ mode, from each other.”

Prabhu hopes the trend will create a domino effect where more visible female philanthropists will encourage others. “More women are involved these days and they are more willing to come out and tell their story more. They are becoming seen as role models and other women will pick up on it.”