|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Using the Side Door to Family Governance
During the past few years, I’ve been noticing an increasing focus on the subject of philanthropy, especially as it concerns families of wealth.
Naturally, families of means are solicited to support causes in their local communities and everywhere else, so there really isn’t much new there.
What is new is that having multiple generations of families get involved with how the family conducts its giving, and all of the decisions this entails, is finally being recognized as a great way to begin to address the subject of family governance.
This idea came home to me a few years ago, as I hosted an episode of the Let’s Talk Family Enterprise podcast dealing with the subject.
Since that discussion with friend and colleague Dr. Sharilyn Hale, I’ve thought about philanthropy as kind of a “side door” to initiating family governance.
Families Working on Experiential Philanthropy
I recently facilitated a family meeting with clients I’ve worked with for a couple of years in my role as a navigator with More than Money 360 (“MTM 360”).
One of the themes for this year’s family project was experiential philanthropy, and I got to see first hand how spending some time visiting with a local charity as a family can really begin to drive home lots of key messages.
The debrief after our visit, which included some light volunteer work and lots of education around the mission, touched on a number of the areas that are part of the many “T’s” of philanthropy, which is where we’ll head to now.
Having heard about the “4 T’s of philanthropy” a number of times, I was recently made aware that a fifth T was added.
It was a head scratcher at the start, which turned into a personal A-Ha moment.
Time, Treasure, Talent, and Ties
The family I accompanied on their visit to the HQ of the organisation in question spent some of their time doing some volunteer work during our visit, and of course “Time” spent is a common way that people donate to good causes.
Treasure, a.k.a. donating money, is also a highly sought after type of contribution, and I’m certain that a monetary donation will soon follow from the family to the charity who welcomed us all.
Talent is another way that people can give to worthwhile causes, and this often takes the form of using one’s professional skills on behalf of an organisation without charging them, or on a highly discounted basis.
The fourth of the 4 T’s is Ties, or using one’s social capital to help a charitable organisation make important connections to others (donors, politicians, like-minded organisations, etc.) that they would have difficulty making on their own.
And What About Testimony?
As noted above, I was recently at a presentation with some peers where someone put up a slide that showed a fifth T, which I was not aware of until then, “testimony”.
Hmmm, I thought, that’s odd, what does that even mean?
Here’s something I found later via Google, which neatly summarizes it:
“Testimony is a way of giving back that involves sharing your personal story of why and how you give back. You could write a blog post, record a video, or speak at an event to inspire others to join you in making a difference.”
“Oh, I get it”, I said to myself after it was explained.
And them came the “A-Ha” moment.
Okay, Okay, I Know, This Is NOT Charity
While working with families to support them through their generational wealth transition is not a charitable cause, it is an area that is still relatively embryonic, and thus needs support to grow into its potential.
My A-Ha upon discovering that Testimony is a way to contribute, was realising that that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for over a decade now, here and elsewhere.
I continue to write blog posts, make videos, speak at conferences, teach courses, etc., all in the name of advancing this cause.
Evangelizing and Spreading the Gospel
As I wrote 5 years ago in Spreading the Gospel, Let Me Count the Ways I’ve taken this cause on as kind of my hobby horse, after recognizing during the FEA Program in 2013 that there’s a crying need for families needing support with this difficult work.
I’m not sure I’d ever imagined becoming an evangelist for any cause, but alas, here I am, spreading the gospel everywhere I can.
It feels like my testimony is slowly helping, so I will continue….
