With the holiday gifting frenzy behind us, and now that we’re well into the new year, I’ve been thinking about how wealthy families can sustain the generous (albeit impulsive) spirit of the holidays into more strategic giving throughout the year. Wouldn’t that be a fantastic resolution to keep?
While what I like to call “spray and pray philanthropy” is noble and personally satisfying, taking a bigger picture approach to giving—including setting goals for what you want to change or create—allows families to see more impact, stay more inspired and up their chances of keeping the family together over time.
Around the world, more families are considering family offices—private entities that manage investments, trusts and other financial planning—to manage their philanthropic giving. Yet, what I’ve learned is that family office professionals (particularly in single family offices) often lack the support and expertise they need to guide their families effectively. The family office is typically geared toward making and managing the family’s wealth, so the idea of giving it away may not come intuitively. More often than not, mums the word on philanthropy until the family brings it up.
Family office professionals can offer support and resources to families considering philanthropy. Here are 7 tips for family office staff to help their families get started.
Philanthropy Planning – 7 Tips for Family Office Professionals
- Introduce philanthropy into wealth management conversations, or bring in an experienced philanthropy advisor to facilitate the conversation
- Explore the family’s motivations and objectives for giving; ask questions that draw out their passions—what they most want to change or create
- Research the needs in that issue area or community – who is doing what, where are the gaps and opportunities to contribute, and how to make impact
- Bring in advisor/experts on chosen issue areas to talk with the family in a learning session
- Make contacts with other donors funding locally or by issue area; invite them to meet with the family and share their work
- Find out what tax advantages are available
- Provide resources on philanthropy and impact investing
This is not an exhaustive list, nor meant to imply family offices should engage in all of these activities. Rather, it’s a starting place to spark a more thoughtful approach to philanthropy. Family offices might offer a range of these services either in-house or with experienced philanthropy advisors.
For a complete list of ways family offices can support family philanthropy at different stages, click here and we’ll send you our recent white paper Philanthropy in the Family Office: A Global Perspective. And stay tuned for our forthcoming toolkit that will help family offices get started with philanthropy.
I’m taking a poll: What are some tools or resources you’ve used (or helped your families use) to get started with philanthropy? Drop me a line in the comments below or email me at Suzanne@SuzanneHammer.com, and I’ll include them in our toolkit.