Recently I have been examining the behavior of wealthy women, and perhaps my
most intriguing finding is that millionaire women are extraordinarily generous.
The 439 self-made women I surveyed donate almost 7 percent of their annual
income to charity. This is almost one-third more than male millionaires, and
nearly three and a half times the 2 percent most U.S. households give. I was eager to learn what motivates their charity, and how they can give so much
and still accumulate wealth. In our age of consumption, when they are barraged
with luxury marketing messages, the answer appears to be refreshingly simple:
Giving makes them feel good. According to my research, most self-made millionaire women are confident and
content. They measure their success, in part, by their ability to give more as
their income and wealth rise. By contrast, most Americans use a windfall to fund
a new car or luxury vacation. But those who give more to charity admit that it
makes them feel better than expensive clothes or a grand home. Amazingly, fund-raisers often overlook these women, and spend more time chasing
beautiful people who look like they just walked out of a fashion magazine. But
that type of wealthy consumer is more likely to flaunt her income than give a
high proportion of it to charity. Other aspects of philanthropy were also
surprising: Tax benefits do not drive this giving. Affluent women perceive income tax as a
percentage of wealth (they pay about 3 percent) rather than a function of income
(they pay 34 percent). They believe that if they pay high taxes, they must be
making a lot of money, and they should be thankful. Helping carry the burden for
those less fortunate is part of their makeup as leaders.
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