“Not only are young millionaires giving more than older generations, they are giving more than they have in the past,” said Marguerite Griffin, Senior Vice President and National Director of Philanthropic Services for Northern Trust. “While historically younger millionaires are more engaged in building wealth and managing immediate financial obligations of starting a family or career, the advance of technology has made giving more accessible. The abundance of information about nonprofit organizations that can be found on the Internet and the ease of contributing to a charitable cause, or even starting your own global giving initiative online, is a huge convenience for younger generations, who are generally more comfortable with online giving vehicles.“

Gen X millionaire households (ages 28 to 42) gave nearly $20,000 in 2006, compared to Baby Boomers (ages 43 to 61) and Silent Generation millionaires (ages 62 to 77), who gave roughly $10,000. Looking ahead through 2008, Gen X millionaires plan to increase their giving modestly, unlike older high-net-worth households, who expect their 2008 giving to remain at about the same levels as 2006 and 2007. Gen X households are also more generous in their intended charitable bequests, planning to give 22 percent of their estate to charity, compared to 16 percent for Boomers and 14 percent for Silent Generation millionaires.

When asked about their main philanthropic goals, Gen X millionaires were more motivated to accomplish family related goals than older generations. For example, 15 percent of Gen X millionaires stated that creating a lasting legacy for themselves or their family was their main goal (compared with 4 percent of older millionaires), and 12 percent stated that honoring a loved one was their primary goal (compared with 5 percent of older millionaires).

“Increasingly, millionaires want to ensure their children understand the responsibility that comes with wealth,” said Griffin. “Along with planning for their children’s financial future, young millionaires want to instill strong values, and get them involved in giving early on, so that it becomes an important part of their lives.”

In addition to providing more funds, Gen X millionaires are more globally-inclined in their giving than older generations: 14 percent of the organizations receiving donations from Gen X households operate internationally, compared with 8 percent for Baby Boomers and 5 percent for Silent Generation millionaires.

Additional Survey Highlights:

• Most millionaires prefer to support personal causes during their lifetime. The study showed that 53 percent of millionaires felt it was “much more important to give during their lifetime” versus via a bequest in their will, accounting for only 3 percent of respondents. Millionaires do however, still plan to leave a sizeable portion of their estate to charity, about 16 percent on average. “Increasingly millionaires want to see their money at work,” said Griffin. “They want to witness the impact of their contributions and they want to be - and want their families to be - part of the change.”

• Millionaires are active volunteers; 80 percent of millionaires did at least some volunteer work in 2007, and more than 25 percent expect to spend at least 100 hours volunteering this year. Volunteer work is also on the rise with millionaire households: 22 percent said they spent more time volunteering in 2007 than in the previous year.

• Millionaires’ desire to be involved may be because they generally feel strongly for the causes they support. By a wide margin, “supporting a cause I personally believe in” ranked as the most important charitable goal (cited by 42 percent of respondents), followed by “making a difference in the community/world” (cited by 18 percent). More than three-quarters of the organizations that millionaires gave to in 2007 had received donations from them regularly in the past. 

Northern Trust’s nationwide survey of millionaire households seeks to highlight important wealth management issues among high net worth investors. A total of 1,014 online questionnaires were completed among households with self-stated $1 million or more in investable assets in the fourth quarter of 2007. The data contained in this report has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points at a 95% level of confidence.

About Northern Trust:
Northern Trust Corporation (Nasdaq: NTRS) is a leading provider of investment management, asset and fund administration, fiduciary and banking solutions for corporations, institutions and affluent individuals worldwide. Northern Trust, a multibank holding company based in Chicago, has a growing network of 85 offices in 18 U.S. states and has international offices in 15 locations in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of June 30, 2008, Northern Trust had assets under custody of US$4.0 trillion, and assets under investment management of US$751.4 billion. Northern Trust, founded in 1889, has earned distinction as an industry leader in combining exceptional service and expertise with innovative products and technology. For more information, visit http://www.northerntrust.com.