Engage the Next Generation
There are at least four scenarios that philanthropists with children commonly face:
- Your kids are young – not yet teens, or still at home – and you’re interested in planning how to engage them in the family’s philanthropy, but aren’t sure how or when to start.
- You’ve just begun your family’s organized giving and your grown children are all over the country – how do you invite and support them to work with you on this task?
- The family’s foundation has been around a while, but the next generation doesn’t seem to be interested in joining the endeavor, which is a puzzlement/disappointment to you. What can you do?
- Maybe the shoe’s on the other foot – the next generation wants to be deeply connected to the family’s philanthropy but isn’t at all happy with how the decisions have made. Is it time to share the leadership or pass the torch?
A Trusted Partner
Most of these scenarios require a trusted confidential partner who can assist each generation to communicate honestly with the other and identify how to make the family’s philanthropy truly a family endeavor. Keys to success include flexibility and sharing decision-making control. Philanthropy Sherpas has been and can be for you that trusted advisor.
We brought Julia in to help our family foundation remove dysfunction and add professionalism to our grant making process. Additionally, our meetings had become unorganized, inefficient, and unproductive from the perspective of the younger generation. New spouses and younger family members were becoming frustrated and feeling disconnected from the foundation. Julia led us through a transformation of how the foundation manages operations, relationships and grantmaking, as well as transitioning leadership to the next generation. The result has been more productive meetings that leave all family members feeling better about the process, and an overall increased effectiveness of our grantmaking. |