Is Family Philanthropy Ready for “New Giving” Tools?

At next month’s Council on Foundations 2013 Family Philanthropy Conference, consultant Nathan James and I are hosting a session, “Is Family Philanthropy Ready for Adventures in New Giving?” We’ll be discussing potential intersections between family philanthropy and the new wave of giving tools enabled by technology and fueled by problem-solving approaches of millenials, entrepreneurs, and everyday citizens. These pathways for generosity include (but aren’t limited to):

• “Micro-giving” groups such as Awesome Foundation and Sunday Soup chapters, Cleveland Colectivo, and other giving circles that are low cost and/or that don’t only concentrate on giving to public charities
• Crowdfunding sites that are also public charities such as Citizen Effect, DonorsChoose, GlobalGiving, ioby, and others
• Crowdfunding sites for artists, social entrepreneurs, science projects, and more, including Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, StartSomeGood, and many others

Here’s where you come in

These tools are rapidly evolving and rapidly expanding their reach. So, we’d love to tap your curiosity, wisdom, and concerns to bring the freshest thinking to the session:

a) What questions would you want answered by this session?

b) Have family members brought any of these tools up as ways for the family to give? What experiments have you tried?

c) Have you helped grantees tap these sources for friendraising and fundraising?

d) Do you think these tools will aid your family’s philanthropy or distract from it?

How you can respond

You can join the conversation in any of these ways:

• E-mail us at tmacklin@rahuntfdn.org and james.nathaniel@gmail.com
• Leave a comment at the end of this post
• Comment at https://www.facebook.com/AdventuresInNewGiving
• Tweet us at @tonymacklin1 or @PG33K

We’ll promise to summarize the results of the responses and session discussion on the Council’s blog, our blogs, and other places.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Tony Macklin is executive director of the Roy A. Hunt Foundation.