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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:

Good intentions do not make for philanthropic success on their own. Blind spots cost philanthropists—and the causes they espouse—dearly. To make the most of their philanthropic dollars, donors practice due diligence. But when concepts of diversity and inclusion are added to basic due diligence, the result can create a philanthropy that is both responsive and efficient. Any philanthropist can benefit from adopting a policy of including diverse voices at all levels of their giving program. This guide aims to show how that can be done.

The way individuals are approaching philanthropy has evolved in recent years, with philanthropists taking the very best of the corporate world and adding more rigor and measurement to how they give back to social causes, reprioritizing how and where they invest, and going beyond financial contributions to direct both time and talent to their philanthropic endeavors. Against this backdrop, the emergence of the disruptive philanthropists comes to the forefront in this report to help you maximize your philanthropic impact.

Good meetings are a critical block of effective, impactful, and not least of all, enjoyable family philanthropy. This guide explores giving families' strategies, tips, and tools used to ensure that their meetings are also gatherings that family members look forward to. Constructive templates are also provided to help you think through the key nuts and bolts of designing and running a great and enjoyable meeting. When done well, meetings are an opportunity to build shared meaning and deeper relationships within and beyond families.

Just as government and businesses require sound governance to do their work well, so too do families—and their philanthropy. The Family Governance Pyramid provides a model and framework for philanthropic families that is even more relevant and necessary today than when it was first introduced nearly two decades ago. This article by the National Center for Family Philanthropy provides some perspective on why, and how, families can apply this model to their family and philanthropy, for the good of all.

This issue brief examines the kinds of decisions that family foundations often face and sets out practical, easy-to-apply guidelines for ensuring that the foundation’s decision-making methods vary appropriately, as conditions and circumstances change.