Kate Stone

With the festive season fast approaching, Australians are being encouraged to embrace the spirit of giving in a way that lasts well beyond Christmas morning, while at the same time reducing their immediate tax liabilities.

Kate Stone, Head of Philanthropic Giving at Australian Philanthropic Services, said while the end of the year often inspires spontaneous generosity, now is also the perfect time to make philanthropy a lasting part of family and financial planning.

“The festive season brings out the best in people, and we see enormous generosity across the country at this time of year,” Ms Stone said.

“But for many charities, that generosity peaks in December and then drops sharply once the celebrations end. The initial donation to establish a Private Ancillary Fund (PAF) or a sub-fund within a Public Ancillary Fund (PuAF) is tax-deductible, and the funds within the structure are invested tax-free, growing the capital available for charity over time.

“This means your festive season generosity can keep giving, year after year.”

Structured giving allows individuals and families to make a significant commitment to their chosen causes. The APS 2025 Client Survey highlights the growing role that PAFs and Giving Funds play in enabling Australians to give strategically, efficiently and with long-term impact.

“Our clients are deeply motivated by purpose, and these vehicles create a legacy of giving,” Ms Stone said.

“There’s plenty of scope to grow giving in Australia. ATO data shows that while the size of donations is increasing over time, the number of donors is shrinking. Giving structures buck this trend. There are now 3,500 private and public ancillary funds in Australia , showing that more and more givers are seeing the benefits of giving in a considered, future-focused way.”

“Setting up a giving fund is one of the most powerful and positive New Year’s resolutions a family can make. It allows you to take a strategic approach, supporting causes you are passionate about well beyond the festive season. It can also be a wonderful way to connect the family within and across generations by giving back together”

Ms Stone said that while Christmas is a time of celebration for many, it also shines a light on the needs that remain across the community.

“This time of year reminds us that not everyone experiences the season the same way. For some, it’s a time of loneliness or financial pressure,” Ms Stone said.

“Philanthropy gives people a way to respond to that through supporting organisations that provide shelter, food relief, mental health support, or gifts to ensure every child finds joy in the season.

Since its establishment 13 years ago, APS clients have given away more than $1.3 billion to charities and now have over $2.4 billion in funds irrevocably donated into ancillary funds for future charitable use. APS consistently establishes roughly one-third of all PAFs created in Australia each year.

“The festive season is a natural time to think about giving, and establishing a philanthropic fund turns that seasonal impulse into something that lasts,” Ms Stone said.

“It’s a way to celebrate what you have by creating something that keeps giving back, not just this Christmas, but every year to come.”

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Kate Stone

As headlines explore the coming intergenerational wealth transfer, the narrative often centres on “next gen” inheritors, typically imagined as tech-savvy, purpose-driven 30-somethings. But this framing misses a critical truth.

The next decade of wealth transfer will not be led by Gen Z or even Millennials, instead, it will be Generation X.

Australia is part of a global shift, with the Productivity Commission estimating $3.5 trillion expected to pass between generations over the next 20 years. More recent analysis places that figure even higher – approximately A$5.4 trillion over the next 20 years (JB Were^[1]). While much attention is given to younger heirs, the most recent Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey found inheritances are most commonly received by people over the age of 55, while a 2021 Productivity Commission report found the age of receiving an inheritance peaked between 55 and 59. This puts Gen X squarely in the spotlight, not as future inheritors, but as current recipients.

Gen X, now in their late 40s to early 60s, stands at a crucial intersection commonly called ‘the sandwich generation’: many are still supporting children while stepping into roles caring for ageing parents. Potentially at the peak of their career, they carry mortgages, are saving for retirement, and are multitasking complexity in ways other generations are not.

Gen X’s ‘sandwich’ status influences how they think about wealth, risk, giving and purpose. Because of this, their perspectives differ from both Boomers (who are considering their legacy) and younger cohorts (who are often positioned as philanthropic ‘disruptors’). The values, life‐stage pressures and motivations of Gen X will strongly shape how that wealth is used, including in giving.

It’s not just Gen X as a whole we need to consider, a gender lens matters. Women are expected to inherit around 65% of Australia’s intergenerational wealth transfer, equating to roughly $3.2 trillion over the next decade (The Growth of Women and Wealth^[2]), making their values, priorities, and approach to wealth stewardship and philanthropy fundamental.

What do Gen X care about?

Generational data from McCrindle’s The Future Donor (2023) and Blackbaud Institute’s Charitable Support Across Generations (2024) suggests that Gen X are most motivated to support medical and cancer research, animal welfare & wildlife protection, children’s charities, social service organisations and emergency relief efforts. Their choices are driven by personal values of hope, duty and empowerment, and when it comes to choosing charities, reputation, efficiency and transparency matter.

Whilst many of the well-known philanthropic foundations are established by and named after men, it is often the women in the family driving decision-making around giving. In her research on the role of Women in Philanthropy^[3], Kimberly Downs found 77% of women indicated that they model or guide their family’s philanthropic giving, while 75% of women said they want to understand the needs of the community and then do something about it. It’s not just about giving and having an impact, women want their family to learn social responsibility, compassion and generosity through giving back.

Implications for wealth managers, philanthropy advisors, family offices

If you are advising families or structuring philanthropic vehicles, recognising the nuances of Gen X as incoming wealth inheritors is vital. Some key implications:

• Timing matters: Since the average age of inheritance is around 55, we should look to engage Gen X now, rather than assume it’s “20 years away.”
• Motivations differ: Gen X may prioritise stability, family security, real estate/mortgage paydown, education of children, and support for ageing parents. Wealth and philanthropic advice must reflect the complexities of that sandwich stage reality.
• Engaging women: Women are looking for holistic and tailored advice. They want someone who understands their expertise, available time, lifestyle and family obligations. They value trust and communication, and expect the same high value opportunities to be presented to them as to their male counterparts. They are also more likely to seek investments with a good social element, both for their personal wealth and their philanthropy.
• Legacy conversations: Engaging Gen X in discussions about family values, long-term giving, the benefits of intergenerational structures (e.g., family foundations, giving funds) is important. They will serve as gatekeepers of both wealth and values for younger siblings/descendants.
• Philanthropic vehicle design: Giving programs might need to be customised for Gen X’s time-horizon, liquidity needs (mortgages, children’s education), and risk appetite, rather than defaulting to all-in “impact investing” models geared at younger disruptors.
• Communication style: While Millennials and Gen Z may respond to “technative”, social impact brand messaging, Gen X may prefer evidence, pragmatism, legacy frameworks and structured governance.

Gen X will shape how much, and in what way, family wealth translates into legacy giving, intergenerational values, and community impact. We need to shift our focus now to engaging and nurturing Gen X if we want to make the most of the impending wealth transfer.

Advisors, philanthropy sector professionals and families should stop seeing Gen X as a passive bridge between Boomers and Millennials. They are active custodians now, and increasingly so. If their motivations, constraints and life stage pressures aren’t part of the conversation, we risk missing one of Australia’s most significant wealth and philanthropy inflexion points.

By Kate Stone, Head of Philanthropic Giving

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Notes:
[1] https://www.jbwere.com.au/content/dam/jbwere/documents/campaigns/JBWere-Bequest-Report.pdf
[2] https://www.jbwere.com.au/campaigns/growth-of-women-and-wealth
[3] https://kimberlydownes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Influence-of-Women-in-Australian-Philanthropy-WEB.pdf

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