Philanthropy: beyond the act of giving (part one)

Supporting the family's vision

My experience is that people genuinely want to do something good, frequently people have a broad-brush approach to giving. Why do they do that? because they are kind-hearted and generous. However this potentially could dilute the impact, so we try to get them to focus, so that instead of giving to lots of different charities, we recommend and suggest that clients and families aim to support no more than five or six, or less in some cases.

When a family first looks at philanthropy, its important they define their mission, their values, and their area of interest. In my experience, that is usually led by the principal, with the involvement of the children coming at a later stage. 

Another vital aspect is having the right structure. We ask the families what specific charities they want to support, or if they want to create their own charitable foundation. These are fundamental questions that families need to address at the very beginning.

Research is key

If a family has a vision and they want to do something that supports their vision, we undertake the relevant research to understand the subject and what support can be provided. What does that support include? Is it social issues or initiatives, and who do they want to involve? What sort of strategy and what sort of network? It all comes back to the very important point which frames the question for a lot of families, namely do they want to support a specific charity, or do they want their own charitable foundation? 

Many of our clients and families end up creating their own foundations, because they want to shape the legacy and the mission of the charity/foundation. 

Making a difference

We have set-up several foundations since I joined Floreat.  By way of example one family wanted to look at education for children from 5-18 years old and how to assist children who are not in private education. Their focus is very much on education, learning skills, well-being, including nutrition and mental health.

One recent example of a charity that reflects this area of interest is a network of state-of-the-art youth centres across the UK. These nationwide centres are a place of safety for young teenagers to meet after school. It not only allows them to learn new skills and meet friends, but also takes young children and teenagers in urban areas off the streets, giving them a safe place to play sports, study, or get a decent meal. 

It is really a way of creating modern youth clubs which can meet the demands of younger children and teenagers.

Furthermore, the trustees endeavour to attend site visits to assess the impact and results of this expenditure. We try to do at least one annual site visit for each charity that we support as part of our measuring the impact and the effect the donation has had. The foundation and trustees want to see tangible results.

Read part two from this series