Wherever it takes you, the journey towards achieving maximum philanthropic impact starts with your convictions and beliefs about how you might change the world for the better. Values are your guide stars. They guide the choices you make, and the most satisfying and effective philanthropy is built on those deeply held values. In our new blog series, The Tenets of Impactful Giving, we’ll be taking a look at best practices, insights and goals that can help you truly make a difference with your philanthropy.
Step 1: Take Inventory
Completing a value inventory is the first step in creating your philanthropic roadmap to help you determine how to make an impact with your charitable giving. What are bedrock values? What is most important to you and what are you truly passionate about? There are many possibilities, including community, collaboration, justice, integrity, opportunity, truth, and family to name a few. Identifying your unique set of values can be a revealing and rewarding process in itself. It also becomes a kind of philanthropic compass that can help guide your giving choices.
Step 2: Talk Around the Table
My advice is to gather your family around the dinner table—here discussions can be enlightening and meaningful, revealing things that family members value most. Philanthropy is a great unifier. Families who learn to give together can create shared values that bind them together for generations. The means by which a matriarch or a patriarch begins to translate values into a family-wide legacy is as varied as families themselves.
Step 3: Connect with Your Children
Family values are more caught than taught, so let your children witness your giving. You want to make it transparent—don’t shield them from your charitable gifts. People develop their values through observation, experiment, experience and feedback. Children watch their parents closely and learn their values by observing their behaviors.
Remember that your philanthropy needs to be passion-driven based on your values in order to be sustaining and effective. It must matter to you, be meaningful and have connectedness through life events.
Looking for more giving inspiration? Check out our resource The Secret to Joyful Giving – Foundation Source.
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