Philanthropy & Charitable Planning: From Survival to Social Impact

Rory Brooks CBE Shares Journey from Manchester Student to Major Philanthropist While Panel Explores Changing Face of Charitable Giving

The Manchester Conference's afternoon session on philanthropy and charitable planning brought together an inspiring quartet: Dale Cooper (Deputy Director of Global Philanthropy, University of Manchester), Rory Brooks CBE (philanthropist and Charity Commission board member), Michelle Duncalf (Weatherbys Private Bank), and Adam Williams (Mills & Reeve). What emerged was both a masterclass in strategic giving and a deeply personal story of transformation.

"I'm Getting There": The Entrepreneurial Journey

Rory Brooks' opening apology for his late arrival—"an object lesson in how to endear yourself to an audience"—set the tone for his disarmingly honest account of building wealth and giving it away. When asked how long before his private equity business felt successful, his answer drew knowing laughter: "I'm getting there. I had to pass it on to somebody else."

He continued with characteristic candor: "When you read the books of people who've been successful, it's an escalator to greatness and world domination—it's rubbish. It is a series of surviving near-death events on a regular basis, wondering how you're going to survive the next day."

Brooks founded his business at 34, driven not primarily by money but by "independence and self-determination and agency." His Manchester University management sciences degree proved the springboard: "I did my first lecture, which was about how board structures work, and I knew I had landed in the right place."

Twenty years ago last week, Brooks and his wife established their family foundation, shaped by the Christian values of his upbringing and a desire to address the challenging lives of young people in their West London community. "I am the direct product of two generations of social mobility in this country and I believe in it very strongly," he stated, noting his father left school at age 11.

Generous Relief, Strategically Applied

Adam Williams outlined the UK's genuinely attractive tax reliefs for charitable giving. Lifetime cash gifts allow high-rate taxpayers to reclaim the difference between basic and higher rates. Property and listed shares gifted to charity reduce taxable income by the net benefit amount, with the additional advantage of wiping clean any capital gains.

The death benefit proves particularly compelling in the current environment: charitable bequests pass free of inheritance tax, and if more than 10% of net estate goes to charity, the IHT rate on the balance drops from 40% to 36%. Williams recounted a client who "never thought about giving to charity" but came in "fed up of tax changes" and ended up committing over 10% of their estate to charitable causes.

Brooks emphasized the mechanism's elegance: "All of the tax that had been paid on that money is deemed that it was no longer taxable money and all the money comes back." The charity receives the basic rate tax relief through gift aid, while higher-rate taxpayers reclaim the additional relief.

Co-Production and Partnership

Dale Cooper described the university's approach as "co-production"—acting as broker between philanthropist, advisor, and institution to identify projects matching donor objectives. The relationship with Brooks exemplifies this philosophy. His initial challenge: "I don't want to help just one person with a scholarship, I want to lift a million people out of poverty, how are you going to do that?"

The result: a translational hub at the Global Development Institute converting research into practical policy, with partnerships across Africa. "Philanthropists need to understand they are not the answer, they are part of the answer," Brooks emphasized. "They're a cog in a necessary machine—an important cog but not the only bit."

The Next Generation and Gender Dimensions

Michelle Duncalf highlighted philanthropy's utility for engaging younger family members: "We found it's a great tool to actually bring in younger family members. By having a charitable foundation and getting the kids involved at an early stage helps them get used to managing money."

The panel explored gender differences in philanthropic approaches. Duncalf noted women "don't tend to do the big one-off financial hits. They like to do longer-term gifts, regular gifts, and actually become more involved." Cooper confirmed female philanthropists prove "much more values-driven, hands-on, and more engaged," often working collectively with other female philanthropists.

Williams offered a contrasting perspective from his practice: "I can't say I've seen a noticeable difference between my male and female philanthropists. Perhaps that's because of the nature of the clients—business owners, entrepreneurs, successful people, strategic thinkers."

The Advisor's Responsibility

Brooks delivered perhaps the session's most pointed challenge to the advisory community. He identified two reasons advisors avoid discussing philanthropy: "fear of being exposed for not being knowledgeable on the subject, and fear of loss of assets under management and therefore diminished income."

However, he warned, next-generation wealth holders "see society in a different way in which their money is to be engaged." They want holistic conversations covering sustainable investing, impact investing, and philanthropic giving. "I've seen people leave institutions and say, nobody was talking to me about this, I'm going to go to another place that will talk about this."

Williams agreed advisors should be more proactive: "I think sometimes clients don't know what they don't know. Charitable giving should be part of the conversation." Even beyond philanthropy's merit, exploring clients' interests and concerns builds better relationships and improves service.

Measuring What Matters

On measuring impact, Cooper emphasized defining success metrics at the outset—whether people lifted from poverty, students employed after graduation, or IP generated from medical research. Brooks distinguished between quantitative measures (200 disadvantaged children entering university) and qualitative outcomes (children reading better), noting qualitative charities show impact "by taking you around the beneficiaries and showing you the very happy smiling faces."

As the session concluded, the message resonated clearly: in an environment of tightening tax reliefs and growing wealth transfer, strategic philanthropy offers both societal benefit and practical planning advantages—provided advisors overcome reluctance and initiate the conversation.