Each of us has our own money story – the underlying assumptions, messages, hopes, and behaviors that we’ve learned over time about the meaning and use of money. Those stories are also influenced by increasing online data about family wealth and public skepticism of concentrated wealth. The alignments and clashes among family members, branches, and generations around their money stories easily spill over into a family’s philanthropy. They influence their ability to create shared philanthropic values, goals, investment and grantmaking policies, and more.
How can families create healthier money narratives and habits which can, in turn, create healthier alignment in their philanthropy? What are the appropriate roles of foundation staff and advisors in supporting those often-stressful family conversations?
For additional perspectives about defining motivations and values, see the Content Collection, Values and Motivations.
Top Resources
Raising Children with Philanthropic Values
Report
Develop an understanding of your own values, starting with your “money values.” We all have beliefs about money. Affluent parents may have more difficulty clarifying these values since there are so many choices they can make available to their children. Wealth counselors offer a variety of tools to help people…
Estate Planning As A Family: A Collaborative Approach
Passages Issue Briefs
The time has come to cast estate planning in a fresh light. For too long,parents and their advisors have conducted estate planning behind closed doors. Each year, billions of dollars of family assets pass from benefactors to inheritors but the process continues to be one of the most sensitive—and secretive—activities…
Philanthropy’s Role in Developing Responsible Adults
Passages Issue Briefs
Families of wealth face unique challenges. In most cases, children cannot avoid being set apart because of the communities in which they live, the kinds of cars they drive, the vacations they take, and the affluent friends whose company they keep. They can afford to attend elite private schools and…
NCFP Webinars
July 11, 2019
Community Foundation Spark Session: Money, Values, and Culture
Please join us for this special joint NCFP Webinar and Community Foundation Spark Session, brought to you by the generous support of our Community Foundations Family Philanthropy Network. Each of us has our own money story – the underlying assumptions, messages, hopes, and behaviors that we’ve learned over time about…
