The community foundation can help our fundholders design charitable giving plans that will create rewarding philanthropic experiences not only for individuals, but also for couples. Indeed, when helping a couple, we work to develop and activate a charitable giving strategy that matches their goals and values.
For example, when working with our fundholders we:
- Strive to understand why you would like to give together as a couple, rather than “dividing and conquering” as individuals.
- Seek to deeply understand your perspectives on roles and control so that we can help structure a process that will allow both you and your partner to be active decision-makers. In certain cases, from time to time, a couple will ask the Community Foundation to act as a facilitator in an amicable debate about a particular community impact strategy or charitable gift.
- Help couples decide on financial levels of current and legacy giving that will achieve your philanthropic goals in harmony with your goals for your children and grandchildren’s personal inheritances and involvement in the family’s legacy philanthropy.
You may also want to read Women Give 2021: How Households Make Giving Decisions, a study released last month by Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The authors of the study observed notable trends in how partners–not just women–approach giving. For example, according to the report:
- More than 61% of couples make charitable giving decisions jointly.
- When decisions are made by one member of a couple, and that couple includes one woman, the woman is more likely to be that decision maker.
- Couples tend to agree on the amount and recipients of their philanthropic investments.
As always, the team at the Community Foundation looks forward to supporting you as you help achieve your family’s philanthropy goals. Please contact Marcia Shackelford via email for more information.
