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Understanding your aims and concerns

Philanthropy is a deeply personal subject both in motivation and in direction. Successful philanthropic endeavours demand in the first instance an understanding of what matters most to you, personally and professionally. The better able we are to clarify your objectives and individual needs, the greater the chance we will build a strategy that fulfils your aims and creates a lasting impact.

Aligning principles and practice

An initial exploration of philanthropic values helps us to understand and clarify your philanthropy aims, how much involvement you would like in your approach, and how you want to involve your family.

From experience in advising families and trusts on philanthropy, we have helped to design a wide range of approaches that suit different aspirations. We can help you set out a programme that will help achieve your aims, but also one that will match the time and resources you want to dedicate to your philanthropy.

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Providing guidance and advice to your decisions

Knowing what works practically as well as what appeals to your beliefs or attitudes can help in navigating a frequently overwhelming array of causes and means of addressing them.While we are able to field experienced and knowledgeable people we do so in a professional capacity, not seeking to impose a view, but to complement your expertise. Our advice is objective, intellectually robust and practical. It is also tailored to your needs and concentrated on areas where we can add most value.

Increasing confidence in commitments

What gives you the confidence to make a gift to a particular cause? How do you determine if you have enough belief in the recipient organisation to make a donation? How do you consider risk, or measure success?

In our experience, donations are analogous to financial investments—the wisest decisions are those that are the best informed. With knowledge comes confidence and ultimately satisfaction. Understanding your motivations and having a clear process for vetting recipient organisations are not only essential to making your gifts more effective but also more fulfilling.

We work with you to create a practical and robust strategy for your philanthropy. The range of considerations is broad, but we will help you answer key questions over choice of organisations, whether to spread philanthropy or concentrate resources, and how to build hard and soft metrics. If you wish it, we will help establish opportunities for you to engage on a more personal level with the causes that matter to you.

Getting started

In the first instance we would like to invite you or your advisers to a confidential but informal conversation, ideally to meet and discuss what is important to you and how we can help.

If you find that we might be able to work together, we will set out a process that enables us to begin to understand you better.

Typically, we will need to clarify some basics first:

  • Your pre-existing experience of philanthropy, as an individual or a family,
  • What you would like your wealth to achieve and for whom,
  • Your hopes for your family, your community and society,
  • The issues and organisations that matter to you,
  • How to involve your family and friends in your giving,
  • How involved you wish to be with the organisations and individuals you help with your philanthropy.
Philanthropic Giving