How to Help Your Clients Develop a Giving Strategy at the Start of the Year

The beginning of a new year is a natural time for philanthropists to take stock on what they have done and what they want to consider for the new year. If your clients have recently opened and funded a donor-advised fund (DAF), they can begin recommending grants immediately, and they may want to consider a strategy for giving. If your clients have been recommending grants, the start of the new year is a good time to create a giving strategy. Either way, there are several points to consider to help your clients plan their philanthropy.

What did last year’s philanthropy look like?

Who did your clients support through their DAF last year? This can be considered for existing DAF holders and for new DAF holders who conducted their philanthropy outside of an NPT UK DAF. Did your clients support favourite organisations or did they focus on a programmatic area or a specific community? Did the clients recommend many smaller grants or fewer, larger grants?

With an understanding of last year’s grantmaking, the next question for your clients is how did they feel about their philanthropy last year? Does it feel like they have the right mix of organisations or are there areas they would like to explore? Did the organisations your clients supported accomplish what they set out to do or make progress in their areas of focus? A good way to assess the progress the grant recipients made is to check their websites and annual reports. Are they advancing their goals, and are the clients still interested in what they are doing?

 

What else is happening in your client’s world?

Donors can support organisations in their own communities, regional or national organisations, and even international organisations, through NPT UK’s global grantmaking. Your clients may want to respond to events near or far with their philanthropy. A giving strategy might include relief efforts to help those suffering from a natural disaster or activities to invigorate a community. There are countless ways to help communities near or far, and your clients can decide if there are localities or issues that they want to support.

 

What is their philanthropic budget?

As your clients consider a giving strategy, it helps to have an understanding of the amount the donors are likely to be able to contribute during the year. Philanthropic gifts of all sizes are important to the organisations supported, but a contribution may have more meaning depending on the size of the organisation. A small contribution may have more impact on a local community group than on a large, multinational organisation. In addition, the total amount to be contributed can help a donor determine the giving strategy—for example, multiple smaller grants, or fewer larger grants, as well as local or national giving.

 

Pulling it all together

After considering the donor’s philanthropic budget, their current and potentially new interests, and the results of previous giving, your clients can devise a giving strategy for the new year. It may be to continue supporting favored organisations or exploring organisations in a new area of interest. It may be to support a local community or to help places of urgent need, anywhere in the world. A giving strategy can include any or all of the above: a percentage of the donor’s philanthropic budget to provide ongoing support to known organisations and a percentage of giving to explore new opportunities. There is no right or wrong answer, there is only a giving strategy that reflects the philanthropic interests of the donor.