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Ask Your Mother. No, Really—Ask Your Mother

KEITH LEIGHTON/ALAMY

By Aili McConnon

Ask Your Mother. No, Really—Ask Your Mother

Looking for a benefactor? Try the females in your family. Women now give more generously to family and friends than men do, says a report from accounting and tax firm Grant Thornton. The study, based on recently released IRS data for 2005, shows that women bestowed a total of $21.7 billion, nearly 30% more than men did. (Donors must declare gifts over $11,000 made to friends and family, excepting spouses.) By now women have been working long enough to have significant assets, says firm partner Justin Ransome. “And the older women get, the more they tend to give away,” he says—mostly in cash. (Men favor stock.) And while men give more for tax or estate-planning reasons, he adds, “women have more of a tendency to give without ulterior motives.”