Three-quarters of financial advisers do not help their clients with philanthropic planning - despite the market exceeding $5.7 billion, according to a specialist.
Planners who advise on philanthropy engender trust and loyalty between themselves and the client, reinforce the fee-for-service approach and increase their assets under management, Stewart Partners chief executive officer Nigel Stewart said.
In the United States about 15 per cent of the US$41 trillion passed between generations over the next 40 years - about US$6.1 trillion - will go towards charity.
In 2004 individuals gifted $5.7 billion in Australia to charities, which is growing at a rate of 12 per cent a year, according to Stewart.
However, a Queensland University of Technology survey of financial planners found that 75 per cent do not help clients with philanthropy.
"They don't understand the area, they have a high level of interest in developing knowledge in this area, but they don't know how to probe their clients to determine what is important to them," Stewart said.