Giving Compass' Take:

• A recent survey called Social Impact in Hundred-Year Family Businesses, examines family capital over several generations and discusses new trends and focus on pursuing family philanthropy.

• One of the main points is that more family wealth is directed at social impact and philanthropic pursuits, rather than creating and sustaining large businesses. 

• Learn more about family philanthropy here.


Philanthropy has evolved over several generations to become better defined and global in scope, according to research by Wise Counsel Research. The survey – Social Impact in Hundred-Year Family Businesses – was written by Dennis Jaffe, with Isabelle Lescent-Giles and Jamie Traeger-Muney.

Jaffe is ambivalent over the power billionaires wield. His study concedes: “The pressure on billionaire business leaders to adopt social and environmental issues is mounting.”

Jaffe stresses: “Our focus is not on new wealth, but families evolving beyond the fourth generation. While many of them are billionaire extended families, they are not like the billionaire who feels a proprietary engagement in how his wealth is used.”

But his survey notes charitable foundations can develop while their benefactors are alive. The Gates Foundation would be the classic example.  Warren Buffett has pledged to bequeath large sums to Gates as part of the Gates Pledge, and three of his children run family foundations.

An increasing number of these businesses have moved out of the family circle leaving family offices to manage philanthropic pursuits. According to Jaffe: “Many wealthy US givers are being groomed not to serve the business that created the family wealth, but to run family foundations.”

Jeff Raikes, former chief executive of the Gates Foundation, sees the importance of “using our funds and talents to make meaningful, measurable changed on issues and in communities that have been poorly served by institutions.”

The Jaffe study says the modern social impact movement likes to focus on areas where donors feel sufficiently passionate to invest their time and money.

They seek to carry out a top-down analysis of a problem, to understand what is going wrong, so problems can be permanently fixed. This can be combined with offers of philanthropy on the ground, to alleviate immediate suffering.

Read the full article about family capital by Michael Foster at Family Capital.