Extreme Philanthropy

Anne and Christopher Ellinger at Bolder Giving, Tracy Gary of Inspired Legacies, and I are cited in an article by Jim Grote in Financial Planning. The gist is that before doing any "extreme giving," a client/donor would do well to engage a good financial planner.  An extreme gift might be 50% of income or 50% of net worth. But a better way to say it might be: Every donor should have a prudent financial plan to help him or her be safe and secure come what may, and to insure that heirs get enough, but not too much. But to have an inspired plan the donor needs to go beyond a merely prudent plan to have a vision of how she or he might benefit society.  Then, with the advisors and nonprofits as partners, the donor can free up dollars now, later and at death to accomplish high and noble ends, without jeopardizing the family's financial security.  When a family has a  prudent and inspired financial plan a big gift may not be "extreme," in the sense of dangerous or risky, it might better be called an inspired gift, or leadership gift, or even a good investment in the world the family wants.  (Sean cites the Financial Planning article at Tactical Philanthropy. )