Paul Cummings: Welcome to Geller’s Insider Conversations on Intentional Giving. I’m Paul Cummings, Managing Director at Geller, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with philanthropically inclined families for decades.
I’m here with Lauren Rutkin, Strategic Initiatives Manager for Geller. And for the past 15 years, Lauren has been in charge of leading family foundations.
Lauren Rutkin: Hi, Paul.
Paul Cummings: Today, we’re going to be talking about intentional giving strategies, more specifically, aligning giving strategies to your values.
While we know every family is different, there are best practices that can drive more fulfilling outcomes. So, let’s dive in.
Lauren, every client is in a different place in their philanthropic journey. So how do you typically engage with a client to ensure that their giving strategy represents who they are and what their values are?
Lauren Rutkin: Every family, as you said, and every client is at a different stage in their giving journey. Some may have just recently come into money. Some may have children who are now getting ready to take part in the family’s giving. Some may have been giving over a period of time and are looking to add more structure into their strategy.
So first, I would start the conversation depending on where the client is in their life and where they are in their philanthropic endeavors. There’s no boilerplate. It’s really an individualized conversation. For someone starting from scratch, I would start by asking, “what are your feelings about philanthropy? Is there a family history of giving that you’re looking to continue or to change?”
Or maybe there’s been some type of world event or a medical issue or some source of inspiration from a recent trip to an underserved country that has motivated a person. It’s common to get inspired following a personal experience. And whether I’m speaking to someone in the beginning stages of this journey or to someone who has already been giving, the key is whether their plans are really reflective of their interests, their passions, needs in the world, or the impact that they want to make—and usually the answer is no.
It’s common for people to have been running their business or raising their kids, and not really have had the chance to focus so much on their philanthropy. So, much of the initial foray is really connecting to the person wherever they are in the moment and where they are in their lives.
Paul Cummings: Yes, I think flexibility is an important component as families of wealth execute on their giving strategies because values can evolve.
Shifting to mid-execution a bit, how do you help clients optimize their ROV, that is, their return on values?
Lauren Rutkin: It’s a great question and not a question you can answer in one conversation. For clients who are already giving, I typically sit down with them and say, “Let’s look at the last few years and get this down on paper. What are the categories that you’ve been giving to? And how did that emerge?”
I’ll make an informal pie chart demonstrating their history of their giving, so the clients can really see their patterns, their trends, their outliers. I then make a second pie chart showing what they might be interested in and ask, “What is it you actually want to do?” And from there we can get to work on marrying those two pieces of paper.
For some families who have never done this, you can use values cards, which I know you’ve done with families, Paul, but really, it comes down to What is my why? That is, why am I doing this? What is the impact I want to make?
And once those discussions start to evolve, you can see if you’re giving really supports those values…and again, generally, the answer is no. And my saying that comes with no judgment.
It’s a process to align your values with your philanthropy, a process that it takes time.
Paul Cummings: “What is my why?” is such an important question to ask. And, when it’s a family that is representative of multiple generations, there’s inevitably going to be multiple “Whys.”
I actually have a lot of fun doing this with families. It’s not a one-time thing either. It’s an exercise that is ongoing that not only helps people understand their Why, but it also helps them understand and how that Why changes over time.
When you work with larger families that inevitably include multiple generations, what are some formalized, different ways that foster values engagement across different generations?
Lauren Rutkin: There’s a few ways you really start this process. The first is, like I said, going back and looking at your history of giving versus what’s important to me.
A second way you can address this is to create a mission statement. It doesn’t need to be a lengthy document. It’s a great way to bring different generations together and it’s actually a complex exercise because different generations may have different opinions on what may be important. It’s really important to bring everyone together and answer questions like, what do we want to focus on? Do we want to give internationally? Do we want to give in the US? Do we want to do annual giving? Capital giving? Projects? Earmarking? General operating? There are so many things to consider, and that’s not even touching on the content.
Further, I would encourage families to start that conversation before you’re too entrenched in your giving, or else it becomes too reactionary. What I mean by that is you want to give with intentionality and you want multiple generations to be on board—and it takes time to create a mission statement.
Paul Cummings: I agree wholeheartedly, and I think, inspecting history to inform the future is incredibly wise. In my experience, I’ve seen it become an “Aha” moment, and that “Aha” moment can lead to great outcomes for other future financial planning.
So naturally, this all leads to a discussion on budget. Lauren, how do you get families there?
Lauren Rutkin: What I find to work well is looking at the last few years to see if there’s any type of trend—looking both at the total number and then by category, which can sometimes be all over the place. But you really want to look at history to help define what you want to do going forward and the historical data can help you back up into the number you feel good about.
So, when you dissect it by category, for example, you start by looking at your multi-year commitments. Beyond the multi-year gifts, what is left? Sort through those numbers and categories next. And then I would go back to the values.
Once you have an idea of the total number you’re giving and have sorted everything by category, then you bring it back to looking at the financial goals within those categories. I also recommend that individuals and families leave room for some flexibility to allow yourself a little bit of gray area to play with if something interesting comes your way. You want to have enough wiggle room to stray—within reason— from what you have created.
Paul Cummings: I think, what I hear in your comments, is intentionality with optionality.
What are some things that you have seen when it comes to including the rising generation in giving strategy, be that things that have worked well or challenges you’ve seen arise?
For example, I’ve seen philanthropy field trips as a great means of engagement, where the older generation chaperones the young rising generation on a day of visits to the places where the family sends their major strategic gifts. This way, the younger generation can really see, in a very impactful and tangible way, what their family philanthropy is doing and how it’s helping their community and aligning to their values.
It can be powerful.
Lauren Rutkin: Philanthropy field trips are such a great idea because, like you said, you can see the work on the ground.
But even starting younger, with kids who are in elementary school, you can do things like engage them in food collections, or ask them to give up one of their holiday gifts for an underserved child, which is a great way for them to feel connected to actually giving. I think starting that early only helps as you start to bring older children into the conversation in a more impactful way and in a more responsible way. For example, when they start to earn money babysitting, or that first job, I like to say put aside one third for philanthropy, one third for savings, and one third for spending.
In their early 20s, you could even give the kids, now young adults, something to allocate. You can use the mission statement to help guide them and they can research and present to the family what they’d like to do. The challenge is, if you engage them too late, it’s really hard to catch up. And by starting early and appropriately, you’re really educating the next generation to take over at some point in their lifetimes.
Paul Cummings: I couldn’t agree more. And that ties to legacy, which is an imperative for many families.
Lauren, I want to thank you very much for being here and spending time and sharing your experiences, observations, and best practices.
Lauren Rutkin: Thank you, Paul.
Paul Cummings: And thanks again to everyone who is listening.
If you or anyone in your family has questions about how to best set up an intentional giving strategy, our experts here at Geller are at the ready to help. See you next time.
