The 200 wealthiest families in Australia have an aggregate wealth of $563 billion and 56,000 Australians have assets worth more than $10 million. Many families have more money than they need to live comfortably yet, despite this wealth, only 46.4 per cent of the 14,816 taxpayers earning more than $1 million claimed a tax deduction for donating to charity. Private philanthropic funds have assets of $2.5 billion, a relatively small amount measured against the nation’s private wealth.

Peter Winneke started out in the corporate world but decided that he could achieve more in the philanthropic world, and quickly realised that there was an untapped resource that could have significant social impact on Australian society. Winneke argues that the apparent miserliness of Australia’s wealthy is not necessarily due to greed, but more likely to cultural factors, lack of knowledge and the relative infancy of the sector in this country. His powerful and practical book, aimed squarely at wealthy families, seeks to give them the arguments and tools to make decisions that will have a significant impact on the world we live in.

While you could argue that it is up to the state through taxes on the wealthy to provide for those less fortunate, it doesn’t, and therefore philanthropy has an essential role to play. In 2009, Readings set up its foundation to support literacy and the arts, allocating 10 per cent of its profits each year to The Readings Foundation. For us it’s been an affirming experience, and for the organisations we’ve supported it’s helped them deliver vital assistance. If you have the capacity and have been thinking that you’d like to do more, then this book is for you. If you know someone who has the capacity, then buy them this book!