Mistrust is another reason. The decline in confidence in corporate governance and accounting has bled over to the world of philanthropy, where calls for greater transparency have been heightened by outrages like the United Way scandal in 2002. Not-for-profit institutions have been scrambling to bring their accounting and corporate governance policies in line with the for-profit sector’s best practices to preserve the trust of their donors, but suspicion lingers. These institutions are the legacy of earlier generations’ entrepreneurship, but have become lumbered with bureaucracy and vested interests over the years. As the reform of many foundation boards now illustrates, those with inherited wealth are also waking to the need for best practices within their charitable pursuits.

In this month’s issue, we examine how our philanthropic pursuits are inspired by, and in turn influence, our families’ mission statements and our pursuit of meaning. Indeed, in the U.S., a meritocracy without peer, where the first question asked after an introduction is usually "So, what do you do?", philanthropy provides those with substantial inheritances a way to make an important contribution to society.