Charitable giving is a significant and growing opportunity for financial institutions looking to gather new assets, according to new research from TowerGroup.

TowerGroup’s Retail Brokerage & Investing service finds that the outlook for charitable giving is strong, predicting a surge in charitable bequests over the next 50 or more years, resulting from a huge intergenerational transfer of wealth. “When building a philanthropic planning capability, institutions should look to use the process to build relationships across generations in order to retain management of charitable and family assets when wealth passes from a current client to family members.”

“Philanthropic planning is an essential piece of an overall wealth management strategy,” said Matt Schott, a TowerGroup senior analyst and author of the new research.

“Financial institutions need to recognize the opportunity here, and understand that it entails a more structured approach to giving. New technology may be required to support new business and regulatory processes. And training will be needed to help advisors turn the typical year-end check-writing exercise into a year-round planned effort-as well as to engage in the kind of values-oriented discussions that go hand-in-hand with charitable giving and intergenerational advising.”