Being Charitable as a Family

The Value of Being Charitable

Helen and Alan have been charitable for many years. They have discussed the value of being charitable with their three teenage children, Caroline, James and Mathew. They wanted to impress upon their then children, the importance of giving back to the community and began to ‘gift’ their children the ability to direct charitable dollars to support charities of their own choosing.

Each year, each child was given the ability to direct $2,000 to charities they wished to support from Helen and Alan’s donor-advised fund, with the provision being each child share their reasons for choosing the charities. Family gatherings were enhanced with conversations about their values and goals as the children discussed the charities they chose to support. These conversations also touched on the fulfilling ‘work’ required to choose a charity and the sense of wellbeing often experienced by being charitable.

In time, as their children matured, Helen and Alan chose to create a legacy plan around their GiftPact DAF. They established an Advisory Committee to become active upon the death of the second of them. They designated their eldest, Caroline as the Chair of the committee. They chose to dedicate a fixed amount of money from their Estate to be donated to their GiftPact DAF. Once donated, they identified 10 charities that they wished to distribute $100,000 to upon their death, and instructed that the remaining balance be administered by the Advisory Committee, ensuring that their family legacy of charitable giving continued well beyond their lifetime.

The family continues to have conversations about values and goals and the importance of philanthropy, learning a little bit more about each other along the way.