Research shows more family philanthropists interested in ‘giving while living’

• Date: 01 March 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30731
• Published date: 01 March 2020

MARCH 2020 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

7

© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Industry News

Research shows more family philanthropists

interested in ‘giving while living’

A new report from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advi-

sors and Campden Wealth that focuses on the phi-

lanthropy of wealthy families from around the world

shows that “giving while living”—that is, expending

their charitable dollars while still alive as opposed to

leaving charitable bequests after they pass away—is

increasingly popular among the wealthy.

The report, Global Trends and Strategic Time Ho-

rizons in Family Philanthropy 2020, was based on a

survey of about 200 families of signicant wealth who

are engaged in philanthropic giving. The responses

explore what motivates these families to give to char-

ity, the types of vehicles through which they donate,

what shapes their philanthropic time horizon choices,

popular causes and more.

Among the survey’s ndings:

• More donors are weighing whether it is more

effective to have a predetermined end date for phil-

anthropic initiatives or to continue in perpetuity.

• Education is the top cause families give to glob-

ally, constituting 29% of the average philanthropic

portfolio, followed by health at 14% and the arts,

culture and sports at 10%.

• European donors are twice as likely to give

outside their region as those from North America

and Asia-Pacic.

• Despite increasing global concern for climate

change, the environment receives just 8% of the giv-

ing portfolios in this survey.

Perhaps the most signicant takeaway in the re-

port is the changing attitudes about time horizons.

Nearly one-third of families are choosing to adopt

what the researchers call a “time-limited” approach

to philanthropy, concentrating their donations over

shorter time periods. Interest in this strategy has

grown by nearly two-thirds since the early 2000s, the

report said, driven by the desire to see the impact

of giving during their lifetime (30%), narrow their

philanthropic focus (23%) and transfer more of a

founding donor’s wealth to good causes sooner rather

than later (17%).

As an example, the report profiles the Jacobs

Family Foundation, which was designed to have an

endpoint based on the founder’s personal experience,

philosophy and desire to see an impact on the local

economy during his lifetime.

While “giving while living” is gaining, the vast

Former United Way exec sentenced for fraud

The former executive director of the United Way

of Santa Rosa County in Florida was sentenced to

51 months in prison after he admitted to 20 counts

of wire fraud and three counts of tax evasion stem-

ming from his embezzlement of funds from the

charity he headed.

Guyland Thompson of Milton, Fla., had been

afliated with the charity for at least 20 years and

served as its executive between 2011 and October

2018, when he was red. An internal audit of the

organization’s finances—coupled with an FBI

investigation—revealed a scheme where he kept

a portion of money intended for use to pay the

UWSRC’s regular bills and expenses by replac-

ing it with other donation checks no one at the

organization knew about. By conducting a series

of complicated nancial transactions to cover his

tracks, Thompson embezzled over $650,000 from

the UWSRC, prosecutors said.

Thompson maintained his scheme by making

fraudulent misrepresentations to the UWSRC’s

board members and employees, its parent nonprot

United Way Worldwide and bank personnel. He

also took steps to prevent internal or external audits

of the UWSRC from occurring that would have

uncovered his fraud, the government said. Thomp-

son then failed to report to the Internal Revenue

Service the extra income from his embezzlement

scheme, which ranged from approximately $86,000

to $99,000 in a given year.

The embezzlement led United Way Worldwide to

pull the UWSRC’s afliation in March 2019, and

the chapter shut down.

In addition to prison time, roughly $221,000 of

Thompson’s assets were forfeited, and an additional

$430,000 judgment was secured against him. ■

(See GIVING on page 8)