Once businessmen wishing to donate wodges of cash to a good cause did so via their last wills and testaments – happy to enjoy their reward in the hereafter rather than the here and now.

But now a new breed of wealthy, younger entrepreneurs is determined to make a difference to society while they are still alive. The result? The professionalisation of philanthropy as the likes of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of budget airline EasyJet, and the prominent Scottish businessman Sir Tom Hunter seek to bring the same level of rigour to charitable investments as to every other area of their financial life.