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| The Practice of Charity |
Three Paths to Giving
Brett Anderson and Thomas Kostigen
02/02/2004
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The following article is an excerpt from The 100 Year Plan series from the December, January, February and March editions of Robb Report Worth. To subscribe or to order back issues, please call (800) 777-1851 or order online now.
"When we advise our clients on philanthropy, they usually ask us about giving from three different angles," says Karen Putnam, principal and director of Philanthropic Advisor Services for Bessemer Trust. "Usually the first is how the clients can give back to their communities. The value driving that is this sense of appreciation and responsibility, having enjoyed the benefits of the support of their communities as they made their wealth.  And the second tends to focus on how to promote particular causes that they care about. These causes are often the organizations or the institutions that they feel have been instrumental in moving them to the place where they are in terms of affluence and influence in the community. And thirdly, they ask, ‘How can we draw our family together in a common purpose?’ The tricky part in that—the most challenging part of that trinity—is common purpose."
This common purpose itself, Putnam says, has two parts: "Recognize the importance of giving in and of itself, that’s the first" she says. "The second is perpetuating shared values. When I work with some clients, they walk into the room and sit down at the table and begin articulating the values they want to perpetuate. They talk about opportunity, compassion, equality, responsibility, and they already have moved to a kind of broader realm in their thinking. But others come in, and they have specific organizations in mind. They want to support a particular literacy program or a hospice or a legal aid society or a faith-based community group. Then we begin the process of backing out the values that informed each of the choices they made. This comes in really handy for the second generation of family, since they may not want to support the same organizations as their parents, but they do want to carry on shared values." Return to main article, "The Practice of Charity"
Illustration by Jonathan Barkat
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