Entrusted: Building a Legacy That Lasts by Andrew L. Howell

Author:Andrew L. Howell [Howell, Andrew L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780692558263
Amazon: B017VEG4L6
Goodreads: 28053491
Publisher: YH Publishing, LLC
Published: 2015-11-10T07:00:00+00:00

Creating a Culture of Generosity

The personal and social benefits of generosity can be further enhanced when you also engage family, coworkers, and others by creating a culture of generosity though collaboration. Examples of this include grant-making certificates, matching donations, impact investing LLCs, and philanthropy therapy.

Grant-making certificates: One family we work with developed a plan to start engaging everyone in the family in giving. For each birthday, the parents give the children and grandchildren a small gift and a grant certificate, which gives the recipient the ability to designate the charitable organization that will receive the grant amount. The only requirement is that the child or grandchild think about and research the organization and inform the parents of their selection and reasons. It has become a great way to partner with family members and talk about generosity.

One of the grandchildren, a second grader, recently selected the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The family was quite surprised by the selection, unaware that the child even knew that such diseases existed. The grandchild explained that one of his classmates was recently diagnosed with leukemia and was undergoing treatment, and he wanted to help his classmate. The act of giving the gift created not only a sense of other-centeredness in the grandchild but also connection and communication between the child and his grandparents.

Matching donations: Several families we work with have also established a charitable donation-matching program, in which the parents will match charitable contributions by their children up to a certain amount. This helps to engage the children by having them earn funds and donate those funds, while also working to leverage and magnify the ultimate gift. Depending on the age and amounts, the donations could even be leveraged. A young child could save up fifty dollars from working around the house or doing yard work, and the parents could match it with $500 of their own funds. Regardless of how the arrangement is structured, giving of your own time, talents, and resources is also more engaging and impactful than simply giving other people’s money away.

Impact investing LLC: In the previous chapter, we discussed the use of family LLCs to allow family members to engage in entrepreneurial activities together. This can also be done in the context of impact investing, wherein parents establish and fund a family LLC and, together with one or more children, the funds are invested in impact investments. A family LLC focused on impact investing can be a powerful incubator for mentorship, community, and philanthropy, and though funding the LLC will likely not achieve a tax deduction, operations and investment decisions are not burdened by the numerous restrictions of a foundation or even the lesser restrictions of a donor-advised fund.

Philanthropy therapy: Philanthropy can also be used to help families going through difficult situations. One family we worked with had amassed a very large estate due to a preceding generation’s sale of a highly lucrative business. The next generation had been instilled with many of the family qualities that made the previous generation wealthy.

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