Family philanthropy can be transformative for both family members and the communities they serve, sometimes with an impact that lasts generations. However, achieving a positive, enduring impact requires purposeful decision making throughout the lifespan of the family’s philanthropic work. This guide contains worksheets that first help you, as an individual or couple, clarify or update your personal philanthropic purpose and plan.
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Along with the guidance of “Defining Your Philanthropic Purpose,” this Road Map workbook will provide donors and their family members with the ability to chart and gain a better understanding of their family’s hope and plans for collaborative, meaningful, and effective philanthropy. As a Road Map, it can become a framework for shared strategies and decision making while strengthening the family engagement in philanthropy.
While every philanthropic journey is unique, there are points at which all families must make decisions. This series of seven short videos offers a comprehensive introduction and refresher to critical concepts to consider at each stage of your family philanthropy—from philanthropic purpose and selecting giving vehicles, to operations, succession, and legacy. Additional resources and insights are provided on each topic to further help you navigate your philanthropic giving and strengthen your family engagement.
The explosion of the use of philanthropic vehicles, coupled with massive intergenerational wealth transfer, means that affluent families are giving in more ways, both collectively and individually. Taking a deeper look, researchers found that as families evolve, they face common dilemmas regarding their philanthropy—most critically, the choices they make about balancing the individual philanthropic priorities of their members with a collective family philanthropic endeavor.
Through a survey and series of interviews with members of 20 U.S.-based, multi-generational family philanthropic systems, researchers found that as families evolve, they face common dilemmas regarding their philanthropy—most critically, the choices they make about balancing the individual philanthropic priorities of their members with a collective family philanthropic endeavor. The study’s standout finding was that the creation of a robust family philanthropy “system” was vital to providing outlets for families’ increasingly diverse philanthropic interests.
During this two-part webinar presentation on private foundation succession planning, insights and planning tools are outlined and discussed to help the next generation of decision making. While there are different approaches to succession planning, knowing the donor intention is essential. Other planning elements and considerations include a mission statement, successor decisionmakers, checks and balances, spend-down division, and enhanced flexibility.
Why do you and your family want to give? While it can be difficult to answer, defining and articulating a clear philanthropic purpose should be your north star. Designed to help take stock of your values and understand the passions and experiences that have shaped your family, this primer is the first in a series of seven about the Family Giving Lifecycle by the National Center for Family Philanthropy. The remaining six series of the primers and related resources are available here and orients donors toward effective outcomes at each stage:
What is the consequence of your philanthropy and who will steward future efforts? Legacy requires creating and implementing plans for donor intent, lifespan, continuity, and succession. Explore how to define and build your legacy and prepare for transitions. This primer is the seventh in a series of seven about the Family Giving Lifecycle by the National Center for Family Philanthropy, comprising of seven inflection points and orients donors toward effective outcomes at each stage:
Making the shift from a “checkbook” donor to a philanthropist can be one of the most rewarding privileges of wealth. And while discussions about philanthropy often begin in the context of tax or estate planning, start with exploring what you want your wealth to accomplish and why you want to give. It’s also important to measure your philanthropic impact, including investment performance that typically plays a key role in philanthropy.
There is a passionate and growing effort among funders to focus less on change that is short-term or only at the project or program level; such funders are instead using models that reach across different sectors and approaches and dig deep into root causes, leading to more structural, systemic change. Aiming their efforts at more transformational progress on the challenges facing society today, family foundations and funders are moving forward with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).