Australians are instinctively generous. Whether donating time, money or resources, our enduring culture of mateship and a ‘fair go’ means we’re always ready to lend a hand.
by John Hartman, CEO, Minderoo Foundation
But is our innate generosity making a material difference for the causes we so readily support?
It’s a question that’s never been more important to answer as Australia enters the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in its history.
An estimated $5.4 trillion is set to be passed from baby boomers to younger Australians in the coming years. In fact, the transfer is well and truly underway.
With it comes a rare opportunity to unlock as much as $12 billion in charitable giving, and to rethink how generosity can create lasting change.
We know the desire to give is already there. What’s missing is the system, support, and confidence needed to turn intent into consistent, structured action at scale.
A major part of this opportunity sits with Australia’s women, who are set to inherit around 65 per cent of the $5.4 trillion over the next decade. Yet more than 80 per cent of women in philanthropic networks – and 64 per cent of women nationally – say they want to give more.
This is not a marginal signal; it is the clearest pathway to closing Australia’s generosity gap. At the same time, there is a significant opportunity to improve outcomes for women and girls, with research showing that most women want their giving to advance gender equality.
Women consistently link giving to intergenerational care, legacy and community continuity. They want philanthropy to be more visible, more normalised in families, and more embedded in culture. Many are already acting as informal stewards of giving within households such as guiding decisions, shaping values, and influencing the next generation, even if that role is not always formally recognised.
It’s a conversation that can’t happen in isolation. From 27-30 April I am in Melbourne where the Women Deliver conference will bring together more than 6,500 gender equality advocates from over 170 countries, and a record number of philanthropic foundations. With a strong focus on building a more just and equitable future, Women Deliver provides a timely backdrop for what is, in Australia, a very practical approach, ensuring that as women take on greater financial influence, they are equally supported to shape giving in ways that reflect their values.
But here’s the friction: the systems designed to support giving aren’t keeping up. Women represent just 22 per cent of Australia’s financial advisers, despite the critical role these professionals play in guiding wealth decisions.
At the same time, many women report they are not meaningfully influenced by professional advice when it comes to giving. That’s a structural mismatch. If women are driving the wealth transfer but aren’t reflected in, or effectively engaged by, the advisory ecosystem, a substantial portion of giving potential will go unrealised. It also points to a deeper issue where advice models are still built around transactional financial outcomes, rather than values-led conversations about purpose, legacy and impact.
Despite cost-of-living pressures, Australia’s desire to give remains strong, with nearly 30 per cent of Australians intending to leave a charitable bequest. The issue is not willingness, it’s activation. And increasingly, activation depends on whether people see themselves reflected in the systems, stories, and structures that shape giving.
That’s where the opportunity sharpens.
Research commissioned by Minderoo Foundation shows up to $12 billion in additional donations could be unlocked by 2030 if Australians had better support from advisers, accountants, lawyers, and fundraisers.
But unlocking that potential requires a deliberate shift towards building the infrastructure, confidence, and capability that women say they need. Financial literacy, visible role models, better storytelling, and accessible pathways into structured giving are not “nice to haves” - they are the enabling conditions for scale.
Just as importantly, we need to rethink how giving is introduced. Discussing giving earlier in life, across families, and as a normal part of wealth conversations rather than an afterthought will be a positive step forward.
So, at Women Deliver, Minderoo Foundation will support these conversations with something tangible – ideas on how to redesign our giving ecosystem around the people who will hold the majority of wealth.
That means investing in capacity across charities and intermediaries to engage women more effectively, embedding philanthropy into professional advice, and equipping advisers of all backgrounds to have confident, values-led conversations about giving. It also means backing peer networks and storytelling platforms that make giving visible and shared, because generosity grows when it is seen, discussed, and normalised.
The largest wealth transfer in our history is underway. If we build a system that turns intent into impact – and place women at the centre of how we think about generosity – we won’t just close the gap; we will redefine giving in Australia for generations to come.