The business of charity in the UK
One of the main pleasures of watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is the tantalising chance it offers to think about what you would do with the money if you had it. Those of us who make up the small but significant part of the population that actually faces that question however, often do not ponder it for long before sinking into a mire of financial advice, sensible planning for the future, further investment and locking it away. My husband Gordon and I are determined not to let that happen and want to be creative with our wealth - which is why we have given ￡1m to Amnesty International. Most people in the UK - 70 per cent - do give money to good causes, but it is not the people you might assume. The less well-off give a far greater proportion of their incomes to charity than those at the other end of the scale: the poorest 10 per cent donate three per cent of their household expenditure to charity, while the richest 20 per cent give on average just 0.7 per cent - and this when the government cautiously recommends 1.5 per cent of income, as part of a campaign to increase the amount of money given to UK charities. Why is this? Some research suggests that it is partly because, as individuals’ incomes increase, their estimate of what their own basic needs are increases even faster, so the pot of money left over for giving diminishes. But there are other factors in this parsimony of the rich. Maybe we are not being approached to give in the right way by those who need our money. And certainly we are not getting incentives from the government that we expect when we are making the money in the first place. And, of course, it is just not British to talk about money. In the US, philanthropy is entrenched among the elite. The Ford Foundation is a household name, there are charity auctions that raise millions in one evening, and Bill Gates is known as much for giving his wealth away as he is for having so much of it in the first place. In her recently published study of philanthropy in Britain, Why Rich People Give, Teresa Lloyd, director of Philanthropy UK, an organisation that works with higher earners to promote charitable giving, says the culture of individualism and lack of a comprehensive welfare state in the US have created very different notions of need and duty among the wealthy. On a practical level there is a very different tax regime in the US: “planned giving” is encouraged by permitting those who pledge capital to a charity at a future date to continue to enjoy the income from the capital and to get tax relief at the time of the gift. Tax relief is also available on gifts in kind. By contrast, the wealthy British people Ms Lloyd has interviewed say that philanthropy has little status in the UK. They believe this is because of British attitudes to money, class and wealth creation, a lack of role models and the lack of any expectation that people who can afford to give do so. America’s “wear it on your sleeve” culture helps set examples for others. But besides the suggested creation of new tax regimes, and talk about challenging the British culture of discretion, there are more fundamental arguments about the responsibility wealth places on you, and indeed a solid “business case” for giving. I believe that some of the wealth generated by business should be ploughed back into the community - through organisations that are striving to make the world a better, safer, more civilised place. You can dismiss this as old-fashioned redistribution if you like, but it is surely common sense that investing in greater welfare and security for all is a profoundly sensible way to improve the environment for further wealth creation. This ￡1m gift to Amnesty, an organisation I have been a member of for many years, is made at a critical time for human rights - from the detentions at Guantánamo Bay to the international community’s inability to act in western Sudan. Amnesty has given me a rare opportunity to make a gift with a real legacy by helping fund the new Human Rights Action Centre being built in east London. This is a place where the public will be able to find out more about, and take action to protect, human rights, and where young people, the change-makers of the future, will learn the campaigning skills they will need. This is the lesson for charities and good causes. Those who have created their wealth in business, if they can be persuaded to give, expect to be able to do so in a strategic way. Just because you are giving the money away does not mean you lower your expectations of a solid return. Giving is a serious business. The writer is founder of The Body Shop
我看英国慈善事业
收看电视节目“谁想成为百万富翁”（Who Wants to Be a Millionaire）的一大享受，就是这一节目所带来的令人心动的机会，考虑有钱该怎么花。我们这些为数不多，但是社会重要组成部分的人，实际上也面临着同样的问题。但我们却常常不假思索，就匆忙地去咨询金融顾问的建议、未雨绸缪、进一步投资或把财富锁起来。我和丈夫戈登（Gordon）决心要防止这一幕重演，并希望创造性地使用自己的财富。这就是我们为何把100万英镑捐给大赦国际（Amnesty International）的原因。
英国大多数人，70%左右确实都在向慈善事业捐款，但他们却不是你所想像的那些人。穷人对慈善机构捐款占其收入的比重，要大大超过富人。最贫困的10%的人将其家庭支出的3%捐给了慈善团体，而最富有的20%的人平均仅捐出0.7%。实际上政府为提高对英国慈善团体的捐助，慎重地建议大家捐出收入的1.5%。
为什么会这样呢？某项研究显示，这部分是因为随着个人收入的增长，其对自我基本需求的欲望增长更快，能用来捐献的钱也就所剩无几。但富人如此吝啬还有其他原因。或许那些需要钱的人并未以有效的方式向我们表明。当我们最初捐款时，政府显然也没有给予应有的奖励。另外，谈钱当然也不符合英国人的性格。
在美国的精英阶层，热心慈善事业已深入人心。福特基金会（Ford Foundation）家喻户晓，慈善拍卖一夜间可筹集数百万美元，比尔?盖茨(Bill Gates)成名不仅因其创造了巨额财富，而且因为他随后捐款无数。
与富人携手促进慈善募捐事业的英国慈善组织（Philanthropy UK）的主管特里萨?劳埃德（Teresa Lloyd）在其新作《富人为何要捐款》（Why Rich People Give）中，对英国慈善事业进行了分析研究。她说，美国的个人主义文化，再加上缺乏全面的福利制度，使得富裕阶层对贫困和责任有着迥然不同的认识。从实用的角度说，美国的税制大相径庭：对于那些承诺在未来某一天向慈善团体捐款的人，允许其继续享有资本收入并在进行捐款时获得税收减免，这促进了“有计划的捐助”。以货代款的捐赠也可以获得税收减免。
与此相反，劳埃德女士采访过的英国富人却说，慈善事业在英国无足轻重。他们相信，这既源于英国人对金钱、阶层和创造财富的态度，也因为缺少身先士卒者，而且也没人期望有钱人这样做。美国人“毫不掩饰”的文化则有助于为他人树立榜样。
然而，除了建议出台新税制，以及探讨如何挑战英国人谨小慎微的文化以外，对于财富带给你的责任还有更深层的看法，这其实是一个有关捐款的切实“商业案例”。我认为，一部分靠企业经营创造的财富，应该通过那些努力使世界更美好、更安全、更文明的组织，回馈社会。如果愿意，你可以将此视为有关再分配的陈词滥调置之不理。但为促进全社会的福利和安全而投资，是为创造更多财富而改善环境的非常明智的方式，这无疑是个常识。
多年来我一直是大赦国际的成员，为其捐出这100万英镑，正值人权发展的紧要关头：关塔纳摩湾的囚犯关押问题重重，国际社会对苏丹西部的骚乱无能为力。大赦国际赋予我一个难得的机会，以实实在在的捐赠，资助正在伦敦东区建设的人权行动中心（Human Rights Action Centre）。在那里，公众可以更深入地了解人权，采取行动保护人权，未来的塑造者，年轻一代将学习他们所需的活动技能。
对于慈善团体以及其他美好的事业，都可以此为鉴。那些做生意发大财的人如果能够从善如流，预计也能以战略性的方式进行捐赠。这完全是因为捐赠并不意味着降低了对高额回报的预期。赠与也是一项正经八百的生意。
