SHARING THE WEALTH

For those of us who have worked hard to make it into the world of privilege- be it the platinum card or the 14 day cruise- we know we must pass on our survivor skills to our children. And one of those skills, even in the midst of downsizing, recession and job loss, should be teaching our children the basics of philanthropy.

A donor recently wanted to help his children start thinking about charitable giving. He and his family were very comfortable with the issue of community service- he had taught them that “community service activities enrich both the community and oneself”. Now it was time to teach them to share the wealth. Were their any resources that I knew of that would help him?

While I scoured the internet I thought back to grade school. A nun told us that each Christmas they had to pick one of their gifts from under the tree- unopened- to give to a less fortunate child. Imagine if you wanted the latest Playstation games and that was the unopened gift you gave away. In our time of privilege, Parents may say how proud they are of you and then wait until the season is over to get you another set of the games. This is not the sharing the wealth the nun was speaking of- you give it away to truly share your wealth.

That’s a hard lesson for a kid to learn these days. We give them so much and now they have had so much taken away from them. In this time of crisis we hold our children so dear that they have lost some of their freedom and independence. Now maybe an aunt or uncle has lost a job and with no means of support, they will stop sending you the great gifts of yesteryear. How many college funds will not be completed because of cutbacks, layoffs and downsizing? Our children are going to have to live with these new facts of life so we need to teach them how to share what they have.

I found some interesting websites that deal with young people and philanthropy starting with www.givingnewengland.org. Under their Youth Philanthropy heading they give a curriculum for helping families teach about giving. They suggest the family “create a calendar of giving that incorporates special giving rituals around season, holidays and or birthdays.” This is a way to “bring together members with a shared sense of purpose.” One of the activities is a MeMap- Family/Group Map that helps identify values and issues. For other resources their lists includes everything from the Council on Foundations to www.dosomething.org.

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