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Family office philanthropy is the planned and thoughtful use of a family’s wealth to support charitable causes. It is also a powerful way to do good as a family unit.

This idea is not just for the ultra-wealthy.

In her book, Giving Is Not Just for The Very Rich, Dr. Susan Aurelia Gitelson makes a clear point: meaningful giving is for everyone with the desire and some resources to share.

For a family office, this means moving beyond simple check-writing and involves creating a structured plan that aligns with the family’s deepest values.

This approach to charitable giving turns family wealth into a tool for creating positive change that ensures, through helping others, the family’s legacy will be sustained and developed.

Charitable Giving in Legacy Planning

Many families, especially those of considerable wealth, focus on growing and protecting their financial assets. This is because of the belief that their wealth is the source of their legacy, and the only way that future generations of their line will flourish and prosper.

Proper legacy planning, however, is about more than numbers on a balance sheet, however many zeroes there may be.

To plan for a legacy is about the mark you leave on the world and the values you pass down. Integrating philanthropy into your family wealth strategy offers profound benefits on this front: it can strengthen family bonds by creating a shared mission and bring deep personal satisfaction for everyone involved.

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Gitelson cites research showing that “People who give are usually happier than those who do not.”

When a family office champions philanthropy and community building, it does more than distribute money to others.

It builds a culture of generosity and teaches younger generations about compassion and responsibility, creating a living legacy that everyone can be proud of.

Beginning the Conversation by Defining Your Family’s Values

The first and most important step in engaging with family office philanthropy is to talk as a family. It’s not a “family” office if the family doesn’t have any input in it. Therefore, this means gathering everyone, not just those who hold the cards or the reins.

Let everyone—parents, children, grandparents—come and discuss what matters most to you as a family.

What are your shared passions and concerns? Does your family care deeply about education, medical research, animal welfare, the arts, or feeding the hungry?

Look to the inspiring examples in Gitelson’s book, where she profiles donors who channel their resources into causes that they personally have a deep and sentimental connection with.

She observes, “Your life will be enriched greatly when you volunteer to implement existing programs and causes you believe in.”

A family office can facilitate these discussions, making sure every voice is heard. Having this conversation is an essential foundation for all future successful philanthropic endeavors as a family and ensures your giving comes from the heart and the spirit of the family.

Moving from Passion and Focusing on the Plan

The world is full of worthy causes. However large a family may be, and how considerable their assets are, there is only so much one family can and should do.

A common mistake is trying to support too many causes at once, which heavily dilutes your potential impact. Therefore, a strategic family office helps the family narrow its focus.

Gitelson offers wise advice: “Diversify but focus!”

This means exploring different areas at first, but then concentrating your efforts on causes that most need your help and with programs that align with the family’s collective vision of a better world.

For instance, if education is a passion that your family pursues, the family wealth could be used to fund local classroom projects, create a college scholarship for students in your community, or support a literacy program.

By focusing, you can achieve bigger, more measurable change.

Gitelson emphasizes that your contributions can have the “greatest impact” when they are targeted.

Engaging the Whole Family Across Generations

The most successful family office philanthropy actively involves all generations participating and putting their all into a collective project.

Therein is where the soul of legacy planning lies.

Encourage children and grandchildren to participate in the project by letting them help research causes, join site visits to charities, or even manage a small budget themselves.

Gitelson shares how her own father included her in his giving from age nine, an experience which she says “transformed [her] life.”

This hands-on experience teaches younger family members many important values, such as stewardship, financial responsibility, and empathy. Through these moments and learnings, they will be able to help transform the family wealth from a passive inheritance into an active, shared mission that everyone has the opportunity to help uphold.

This way guarantees that the spirit of your charitable giving continues with the same passion and values for decades to come.

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Ensuring Your Gifts Are Effective

A responsible family office practices due diligence.

Before making a grant, it’s crucial to ensure a charity is well-run and effective.

Gitelson provides clear guidelines in her book: “Find out what proportion of the funds they raise goes to actual program services.”

She directs would-be donors to watchdog agencies that evaluate charities on transparency and results. As such, your family office will be able to research a charity’s finances, visit its operations, and talk to its leaders.

As Gitelson cautions, with over a million charities in the U.S., “it is important to be very selective and careful in making contributions.”

This process ensures your family wealth creates real good and is used wisely.

As Robert M. Morgenthau writes in the foreword to Gitelson’s book:

“By giving we affirm not just our own values, but we make a statement to others. We receive something that we cannot buy but can only get by giving.”

Family office philanthropy is the intentional journey of aligning your family wealth with your family’s heart and the ultimate expression of thoughtful legacy planning.

Giving Is Not Just for The Very Rich is packed with real-world examples and practical advice; so, get your copy as soon as possible!