The Questions and Observations below are for donor educators, wealth coaches, and fundraisers. I will assume the donor is a woman, because this is, indeed, a gendered discussion of a gendered field. If we wanted to talk about male givers, I would be talking about "social ventures," "venture investing," "mission aligned investing," "balanced scorecards," "double-bottom line business opportunities," and other macho surrogates for philanthropy. Look for me among the women on this one.
Questions about the Donor
- Whose donor is she? (Yours and who else's?)
- What is her vision of the world she wants?
- How does your organization advance her vision? (And who advances that vision better?)
- When you meet with her, do you tell her story or your organization's? (Hint: it should be yours as an element of hers, a plot point in her life story and vision of an evolving world.)
- What is her overall wealth? (Held by her or for her by others).
- How much wealth (cash flow and assets) does she and her vision control (and how much is controlled by father, brother, trust officer, husband?)
- Is the donor's philanthropic budget from income or assets or both?
- Can she give away principal if she wishes?
- Who determines the size of the total philanthropic budget (she herself, husband, trust officer, foundation grant making committee of which she is one member, family counsel, family office?)
Observations
- To increase the philanthropic budget for the donor the fundraiser may have to talk with others in the family system and to their advisors. These family members may not share the donor's social views, or sense of urgency about our collective future.
- The donor maybe on a "philanthropic allowance." The philanthropic budget may in fact be kiss off money to keep the little woman, or disempowered heir, productively engaged and out of the serious money issues.
- The donor may seek out a therapist or wealth coach to address her money issues. Those issues may be as much about family dynamics as they are about money. These dynamics may be intractable until the coach or someone else gets all the stakeholders into the same room for a family meeting.
- In many wealthy families, the ultimate estate plan will be driven not by "the donor," alas, but by those family members and their advisors committed to preserving and growing principal, as well as the power and influence of the family.
- To get the donor's vision leveraged across all the family money, not just the kiss off money, is a noble goal.
- When all stakeholders work out the ultimate estate plan in concert with one another, the process may be lively, but the results can be outstanding.
- The Wealth Coach or Donor Educator is doing a service when he or she helps the donor not only articulate and defend a vision for all the money, but also to enter into a dialogue with the other stakeholders, as a visionary and family and community leader in her own right.
- We will have a better world when these wise women prevail. (And yes, of course the donor can be male, and the gifts can be an expression of shared vision for a couple or an entire family. That cohesion and shared purpose is much to be desired and achieved as the flinty eyed family members are inspired by their donor-leader.)
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