For families and foundations, generosity often begins with meaningful causes and a desire to help. However, without a philanthropic strategy, giving can become reactive and difficult to measure.
You may hear about an organization doing important work and make a donation. Then a friend introduces you to another cause, or a community need comes up that merits support. Before too long, you find that you’re supporting many important efforts, but without a clear sense of how they fit together.
A philanthropic strategy helps you step back and look at the bigger picture. Rather than limiting where or how you give, it provides you with a clearer sense of where you want to focus your giving and why those choices matter to you. It also allows for a thoughtful, clear “no” when asked to give. When others know that you have a family foundation, DAF, philanthropic trust, or are an active checkbook giver, requests can start to stack up.
Start With Why You Give
Before you decide where to direct your resources, take some time to think about what matters most to you. Consider the values you want your philanthropic giving to reflect and the issues or communities you feel most connected to. If you’re giving as a family, think about what you want future generations to understand about those priorities. And perhaps most importantly, what kind of change do you hope your giving can support?
These questions can take time to answer, but that’s all part of the process. Philanthropic planning gives you an opportunity to look beyond individual donations and consider the larger, aggregated purpose behind your giving. Is legacy important? What story do you want your philanthropic impact to tell to your family internally and possibly the community externally?
Create a Framework for Giving Decisions
Once you have a clearer sense of your purpose in giving, the next step is to create a framework for how you will put that into practice. The facilitation of both steps is where philanthropic consulting is especially valuable. It helps you translate your big-picture priorities and goals into a practical framework for making decisions.
Philanthropic planning helps identify your primary focus areas and provides a mission lens to approaching new opportunities. More importantly, great planning, such as using a Theory of Change framework, allows philanthropists to hone and amplify their impact if drafted and executed with rigor. It also helps when you have a clear definition of what success looks like to you. That answer isn’t always simple, especially when you’re supporting work where change happens more gradually over time. A philanthropic advisor can help you think through what matters most, while also making sure your approach leaves room for what you learn along the way. Finally, your advisor is in an ideal position to recommend and nurture partnerships with other philanthropists, including giving circles and DAF organizations that fit your mission, all building community and resources in the field for you and your family.
Turn Your Strategy into an Action Plan
A philanthropic strategy also needs to spell out what happens after you set your priorities. Who will research organizations? Who wants to be part of the conversation? How and when will decisions be made? How will these goals be measured? Answering those questions and more charts a clearer path forward for families and foundations.
Creating an action plan is the foundation of managing your strategic philanthropy. That way, instead of responding to every opportunity that pops up, you design a process for considering requests and making informed decisions. At the same time, a thoughtful strategy provides a blueprint and path while still allowing the flexibility to refine your approach.
Give Your Generosity Direction
A philanthropic strategy is not a limit on generosity; it gives generosity direction. Starfish Impact helps families and foundations turn their values into a focused plan for meaningful, measurable impact. We take the time to understand what matters to you, then help you create a tailored roadmap that connects your resources to the missions and communities you care about.
When you have greater clarity around your values, priorities, decision-making process, and goals, you can approach giving with a stronger understanding of why you’re making each decision and how it connects to the bigger picture. Because we know that your giving is unique to you and/or your family, your strategy should be customized and thoughtful.
Ready to bring greater clarity and purpose to your philanthropy? You can reach Marta at [email protected].
