A Statement on the Wealth & Giving Forum
Glen Macdonald, President

The Wealth & Giving Forum is the brainchild – or perhaps I should say the dream – of Leonard Kaplan, a gentleman from Greensboro, North Carolina, a place better known for college basketball tournaments, textiles, and furniture than a launching pad for new philanthropy.

Leonard ran a successful family business, which he sold in 1994. Finding himself with riches beyond anything he could imagine, he turned his attention full-time to philanthropy and to the establishment of the Wealth & Giving Forum.

Dedicated to promoting greater and more effective giving among people of means, the Forum reflects Leonard's firmly held belief that people of affluence can do a far better job of meeting society's most pressing needs if they could get together with their peers from time to time to talk about philanthropy and to find creative ways to leverage their efforts. So Leonard set out to find a way to make this happen – to provide his peers with a way to engage in serious self-reflection in an atmosphere that is safe and respectful, as well as substantive and inspiring.

But there is a very special and unique character to Wealth & Giving, and I hope that by briefly answering four basic questions on the Forum, I will be able to give you a glimpse into what this organization is about, where it is going, and what we perceive to be its potential.

1. How and why did the Wealth & Giving Forum come about?

Let me begin with a quote from Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point: "Those who are successful at creating social epidemics do not just do what they think is right. They deliberately test their intuitions."

Well, Leonard Kaplan had a deep-seeded intuition that if more people of wealth embarked on a serious reflection of their own lives, their real purpose, and the extent of their own financial security, their charitable giving would increase dramatically. And by following this intuition, he just may just have set a "philanthropic epidemic" in motion – an epidemic where people of wealth will positively impact the well-being of their communities and, at the same time, find greater happiness for themselves and their families.

Leonard's motivation to act on his intuition was:

• First, his own process of discernment, both about his money and his life. When Leonard came into great wealth he felt both blessed and burdened. He knew wealth was a sacred opportunity, and was motivated to do the right thing. He also believed strongly that this motivation was shared by his peers.
  
• Second, he observed that many of the non-givers in his peer group – people who held onto their wealth like trophies – were unfulfilled, and even unhappy.
  
• Third, Leonard figured out that the potential for impact was enormous: that the amount of untapped dollars of societal wealth was somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 billion annually in the United State alone. [1]

This brings me to the next question:

2. What do we do, and why is it different?

How do we go about helping individuals and families of means inspire, motivate, and educate one another about the power of generosity? How can we help them to share their challenges and aspirations with one another, tell their stories, and exchange lessons learned about how best to be effective in putting their riches toward the service of others?

We hold gatherings among peers, away from the burdens and noise of daily life. These gatherings are safe and comfortable. There is no solicitation, only serious discourse about the difficult but noble challenge of allocating wealth to others.

Most importantly, the Wealth & Giving Forum is cause and vehicle "neutral". The focus of the discourse is generosity: a trait common to all cultures and all religions. It is also part of a broader movement among families of means to be part of a larger community and to seek advice from their peers in an environment of mutual respect and trust.

3. Why is this happening now, and why has the response been so electric?

Clearly, there is no pat answer, but I'll provide a few observations:

First, there has been – and should continue to be – an exponential growth of affluence in many countries around the world. Billionaires abound, often newly minted with lightning speed. Just witness the young tech wizards in Silicon Valley, the CEOs of IT service companies in Bangalore, and family businesses in the Middle East.

Many of these people are achieving financial security at much younger age; the intergenerational transfer of wealth in the United States alone is predicted to be a staggering $45 to $150 trillion over the next 50 years. And roughly $7 to $ 20 trillion of this will be in the form of charitable bequests [2]

This trend toward philanthropy among individuals of means is accelerating also because they recognize that:

• To a much greater degree, individuals of wealth are truly financially secure – and now they find themselves free to "find a deeper purpose for their accumulated riches." John Maynard Keynes predicted this as early as 1930 when he wrote the Economic Possibilities of our Grandchildren. He suggested that many countries would achieve such great and pervasive levels of affluence that the financial security question would no longer be the principal preoccupation of its citizens. Instead, free from the worry of daily survival, the major question would become how to use wealth wisely for the common good.
  
• Happiness lies beyond the accumulation and hoarding of wealth.
  
• It is impossible to escape the difficult challenges before us, such as war, famine, destructive natural forces, and terrorist acts, such as 9/11 and the Madrid train bombing. All are vivid reminders that discontent anywhere can lead to discontent everywhere.
  
• Advances in technology, logistics, and management are now giving us a unique opportunity to solve problems that previously seemed insurmountable. Thus, the investment of societal wealth in good causes can have a dramatic and positive return on investment.

4. What lessons can we draw from the Wealth & Giving experience thus far?

First, it is clear that there is a yearning among families of great means to hear what others are doing in their philanthropy, and to learn from one another. Second, the promotion of generosity that speaks to the heart on a cause-neutral basis works. We estimate that families that have engaged with us have moved an additional $100 million into charitable or social endeavors since we began this initiative twelve months ago.

Clearly, donors are looking for opportunities to collaborate with one another and to leverage their dollars for greater impact, knowing that the two go hand-inhand.

Finally, a real shift is underway, with donors now taking charge on a greater scale. Perfunctory check writing is passé. Donors now bring their passion, ingenuity, networks, and management expertise to the table. And more and more donors are recognizing that they need the help of experts in the field and institutions already in place.

But there is a more important lesson from what we have accomplished thus far – and it's about the power of an intuition, the power of an idea, and the power of human action.

In many respects, the Wealth & Giving Forum is the story of one man's intuition and his choice not to ignore it. And it's a story about the power inherent in the choice to take action.

I started with Malcolm Gladwell, so it's fitting that I conclude with him as well. Gladwell argues that "...if there is difficulty and volatility in the world..., there is a large measure of hopefulness as well....Simply by finding and reaching those few special people who hold so much social power, we can shape the course of social epidemics. In the end, "tipping points" are a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of intelligent action. Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can be tipped."

June 2005