The Tracy Family Foundation encourages family members to volunteer. Younger family members may be reluctant to step up, however, if they don’t feel a connection to the charities the foundation supports, are overshadowed by overbearing parents or lack the time and skill needed to run a nonprofit organization.
Here are five things foundations can do to empower the next generation of leaders and ensure that the family’s philanthropic flame won’t burn out:
Share the history
Passing down the story of how and why the foundation was formed can inspire younger family members to want to be a part of it.
Siragusa, who died in 1996, says Sharmila Rao Thakkar, executive director of the Chicago-based organization.
So to ensure that younger generations would hear the story of how Siragusa became successful and why he started the foundation, the family produced a monograph of Siragusa’s life. It has also helped them understand why the foundation focuses on funding Chicago-area charities.
“Although I never met my great-grandfather, I can better understand why he started the foundation and what his intentions were,” says Caitlyn Hicks, age 23, who works at the foundation. “It’s helped to show me how important it is to give back to the community and instilled in me a value of helping others.”
Train them early
Getting children involved in philanthropy from an early age helps set the stage for foundation service later on, says Nathan Dungan, a wealth counselor and owner of Share Save Spend in Minneapolis. A foundation board member mentors the children.
The family also holds regular group discussions with younger children on issues such as transportation, housing and hunger to help them understand how different another young person’s day-to-day experience may be from their own and why the foundation’s work is important.
When “children/young adults develop the habit of giving early in life, it provides a huge advantage later on because they’re already in a pattern of discernment about who, what, when, how and why to give,” Dungan says.
Thomas Blaney, director of foundation services at accounting and advisory firm O’Connor Davies in New York, says the grooming of future leaders should be a gradual process.
He suggests having younger family members serve on foundation committees before joining the board. He also advises encouraging them to shadow veteran members to gain knowledge and once elected to the board, giving them time to learn the ropes before putting them in leadership roles.
Training programs such as Exponent Philanthropy’s Next Gen Fellows program also can help prepare younger family members for leadership roles within family foundations, says Marguerite Griffin, national director of philanthropic services at Northern Trust in Chicago.
