How Groups of the Rich Diverge in Philanthropy

The survey found that many of the nation's most affluent households involve their children in philanthropy.

"We saw a great deal of interest in these donors providing their children with philanthropic budgets to give money on their own," said Michele Courton Brown, a senior vice president at Bank of America.

While all donors listed "meet critical needs" and "help those with less" as their chief reasons for giving, those worth $1 million to $5 million were more likely to donate because of religious beliefs than their more affluent counterparts.

With the retirement of baby boomers, the nonprofit sector is anticipating a massive transfer of wealth to charitable causes.

"Understanding what that's likely to mean in terms of philanthropy and how these portraits are likely to behave" is timely and helpful, said Patrick Rooney, research director at Indiana's philanthropy center.

Tracking the philanthropic motivations of the wealthy is important because they tend to be trendsetters, nonprofit leaders said.

"It used to be that people went to the country club and saw what other people at the country club were giving to," said Daniel Borochoff, president and founder of the American Institute of Philanthropy. "Now there are a lot of wealthy people who are mavericks and are less influenced by others."

Major philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett and George Soros -- as well as those who made fortunes in the dot-com boom, such as AOL's Steve Case and Ted Leonsis -- are finding innovative ways to donate.

Paul C. Light, a New York University professor who is studying such donors, dubbed social entrepreneurs, said they are drawing interest because they are "the new kids on the block."

"The charitable organizations are paying a lot of attention to changing their operations to anticipate where new funders might be going, and they're drawing inspiration and insight from the new funders," Light said.