Practices for Engaging the Next Generation in Your Philanthropy
A version of this article was originally posted by Deseret Magazine and is re-posted here with permission.
Giving takes many forms. Some people give their time and others give their expertise. For many, giving is a joyful way to impart their values and family culture to their children. For philanthropic families who have a formal giving infrastructure, giving includes their resources alongside their reach and influence. It also commonly spans multiple generations as an expression of their values and commitments to one another and their communities. For multigenerational families to be effective in their philanthropy, and to engage and empower the next generation to lead alongside older generations, they must act with intention and be willing to learn and reflect.
At NCFP, we have the great privilege to partner with philanthropic families across the world and continue to learn from their approaches to successfully engage the next generation. The strategies they employ can help new generations of any family participate in giving in ways that are effective, impactful, and meaningful for everyone involved.
Engaging the future leaders of your philanthropy well and early can be a boon to your internal dynamics and external impact and is one of the central themes in our recent study on trends in family philanthropy. In fact, NCFP’s Trends 2025 report shows that many family foundations (86 percent) are encouraging their next generation of family members to participate in the family philanthropy in some way. However, despite this high figure, only 26 percent report that engaging the next generation is one of the top three ways the foundation’s board spends its time and attention. Giving families have a clear interest in engaging their next generation, but don’t always have the capacity or know-how to act on their intentions.
An engagement program doesn’t have to be overly formal to be effective, but if you want the participation of your young people, you need to actively find ways for them to learn, contribute, and be in relationship with your grantee partners. Perhaps even more importantly, the next generation needs to feel that their voice is valued, that they have ownership over some component of the philanthropy, and that their level of involvement can shift in alignment with their capacity and stage of life.
The intentional work and time to cultivate next-generation engagement can feel overwhelming, but the time you put in now will result in a rising generation of confident leaders who understand your philanthropy, your family’s priorities and values, and are ready to contribute their time and ideas in service of your philanthropic mission. We spoke to three family foundations—The Gibney Family Foundation (TGFF), Laird Norton Family Foundation (LNFF), and Tracy Family Foundation (TFF)—about how they are handling their next-generation engagement. While you may have significantly smaller sized family than these funders or a less formal philanthropic vehicle, the lessons and practices they share can be applied to engaging your next generation, no matter the size or scale of your philanthropy.
Strategies to Engage the Next Generation
Each foundation we spoke with has deep experience running next-generation programs that educate and prepare their family members for future board service, instill an understanding of philanthropy and service, and promote relationships and connections between family members (see footnote).
Grantmaking in a Virtual World
All three foundations give their next generation the opportunity to make a collective grant at least annually and cite grantmaking as a critical way to engage and educate their next generation. Grantmaking as an engagement strategy was prevalent among Trends 2025 respondents with 40 percent of families involving their young people in discussions and decision-making about grants. Grantmaking is an opportunity for the next generation to build relationships with other family members and work on coming to consensus and collective decisions. “Grants are what excite our next generation and that’s the primary focus for our family,” said TGFF CEO Tracy Wasden who is one of about 70 members of the Gibney family.
The quantity of money entrusted to the next generation for grantmaking is often less important than the process of giving collectively to something they care about. Grantmaking gives the next generation a sense of autonomy, ownership of a process, and practice making choices together. It can also help them lean into their interests or discover new ones. For example, at LNFF, the Sapling Fund participants (ages 14 to 20) select an issue area to fund each year. The issue can fall outside of the foundation’s four program areas, which gives the next generation an opportunity to explore and discuss topics that are meaningful to them at this stage in their lives.
It can be difficult to do grantmaking in a virtual world, but these foundations have found ways to use video calls to their advantage, allowing for fuller participation across time zones and geographies. TGFF’s next generation meets with grantees virtually, something that Wasden says “has opened doors for our family participation.” LNFF’s Sapling Fund began using Zoom meetings, rather than written reports, for updates from its grantees and grant applications. LNFF Managing Director Katie Briggs says this gives the next generation the opportunity to connect with grantees and represent the family. Moreover, the foundation receives feedback that the grantee partners are energized by the young people’s passion and excitement and grateful for the opportunity to connect with them.
Family Meetings, Site Visits, and Service Projects
Family gatherings are a meaningful way that these funders engage their next generation and build excitement and interest in the foundation’s work. Despite the ways virtual spaces have been a very helpful tool, in-person meetings allow for deeper participation and relationship building—plus some fun.
Fewer foundations are taking next-generation family members on site visits (28 percent in 2025 compared to 56 percent in 2015), but families who want to build and maintain the next generation’s interest in and understanding of philanthropy should consider including site visits or other ways to connect with grantees as a part of their strategy. The funders we spoke with name family meetings, site visits, and service projects as critical practices to help the next generation understand the family’s values in action and get them more proximate to community.
TFF has an annual family vacation week in the Ozarks that includes a meeting of the third generation and fourth generations. They also host the 4G Brown County Experience for fourth-generation family members to learn about the foundation, the family, and its history. LNFF uses the Laird Norton Company’s annual shareholder meeting as a venue for its Sapling Fund participants to meet. At TGFF, Wasden began “cousin camp” for her children and their cousins to gather and discuss philanthropy basics. Cousin camp generated enough interest that it expanded to an annual family meeting, which includes a space for the next generation to meet among themselves and to participate in a board meeting. These in-person convenings cultivate cross-generational connection, strengthen relationships, and cultivate continued interest in the family’s giving.
Opportunities outside of formal grantmaking to volunteer or learn about grantee partners can also help connect the next generation to your work and instill a culture of giving back. For example, at TFF’s vacation week, the staff coordinates volunteer activities. TGFF’s annual meeting includes service projects and site visits to grantees. Additionally, TGFF organizes an annual service day in five cities across the United States where it has a significant number of family members. On the same day, family members meet in the city closest to them for a day of volunteering.
Matching Grants
Matching grants can build the next generation’s personal giving and volunteering muscles. These programs encourage the next generation to get active in their communities and cultivate their interests in various issues areas. However, only 31 percent of survey respondents in Trends 2025 report using matching or discretionary grants to engage their next generation, down from 31 percent in 2015. LNFF offers a matching grant for volunteer hours ($50/hour) so that next-generation members can complement their volunteer hours with a monetary gift. TFF also has a volunteer incentive program and a matching grant program. “Our matching grant program aims to inspire Tracy family members aged 16 and older to replicate Robert and Dorothy Tracy’s personal dedication to generosity and service,” says Megan Costigan, TFF’s family engagement program manager. “The program multiplies the time, talents, and resources of Tracy family members within their communities, empowering them to make a significant impact on the issues they are passionate about.”
Tips for Engaging Well
Regardless of the strategies or activities you use to engage your next generation, it’s important to come to the process with an open mind, a willingness to let the next generation find its own path and make its own mistakes, and an understanding that you will have to share power in order to truly welcome these leaders.
Power Sharing
Families that give the next generation agency and the ability to shape the philanthropy are best positioned to have a next generation that is interested in participating. While 43 percent of families offer decision-making or governance roles to their next generation, it’s important that those offerings are authentic and give the next generation a true voice at the table. TGFF brought on an external consultant to help restructure its board so that it was more conducive to next-generation participation. Wasden said that foundation leadership wanted its next generation to know, “you are capable, we need you, and we’d love to have you.”
Offering On- and Off-Ramps
For next-generation family members, the flexibility of their participation is an important component. It demonstrates that the foundation understands that a family member’s capacity and interest to participate will likely wax and wane over time and with various stages of life. Among those who named generational dynamics as a challenge for their foundation in Trends 2025, 35 percent specifically noted the next generation’s lack of time to devote to the philanthropy as a dynamic that affected their work. Offering on- and off-ramps can help mitigate those dynamics.
Sharing information about the foundation’s work beyond the board and next-generation committee members is a method to keep next-generation family members informed and keep the door open for future engagement. For example, TFF sends e-newsletters about the foundation’s work to all its family members and maintains a private Instagram account for the family to share foundation announcements and photos. TGFF works to include the entire family by inviting them all to participate in site visits and service projects at the foundation’s annual meeting, even those who aren’t formally engaged in the foundation’s work.
All three foundations noted the importance of considering stage of life relative to a family member’s level of engagement. At LNFF, most of its Sapling Fund members don’t go directly from the Sapling Fund to sitting on the board or on a grantmaking committee. Many take a break to focus on school or family, something that LNFF supports. “These are your family members. Trust that they’ll come back if and when the time is right for them,” said Cadence Miller, a program officer at LNFF.
TGFF is taking into account the stage of life of its current next generation who are looking for something slightly less formal. The Next Gen Group is recalibrating and will likely become a one-year commitment. “It’s becoming more creative and informal,” says Wasden. “The program needs to ebb and flow with their lives.”
Be Open to Change
Briggs notes that each generation will bring their own experiences and perspectives to the work. Inviting the next generation to participate means inviting those experiences and perspectives to the table, which will affect the approaches and ideas that the next generation brings. “You don’t do things the same way your parents did. You can’t expect that the next generation will do things the same way you do,” she says.
Briggs and Miller have also observed that many families fear that their next generation will want to shift the foundation’s giving priorities. And they might want to do that. “But if they have practice in the act of collective giving, they’ll be more likely to work toward consensus,” says Briggs. Plus, if you want to have a perpetual foundation you have to give the next generation some ownership over the direction of the foundation says Miller. “Even while staying true to the founder’s vision, the future is unknown and will likely occur in ways your founder could have never anticipated. You have to be responsive to changing needs in the world and let your next generation help you do that,” said Miller.
Centering Education
According to Briggs, “one of the biggest opportunities we have as staff members is to educate the family.” The benefit is two-fold: 1) it’s an exciting way to draw in the next generation by exposing them to new ideas and 2) understanding the issue areas the foundation funds, “your family’s culture of philanthropy, your family’s viewpoint about the role of philanthropy allows them to come into the future work with a strong foundational knowledge, experience, and confidence. There’s less of a learning curve.”
LNFF, TGFF, and TFF all have boards that approve grants, and clearly grantmaking is of interest to the next generation. However, many boards don’t approve grants and have a strategic governance role. In those cases, consider using board meetings as a learning space and letting the next generation help set the learning agenda, advises Briggs.
TFF starts educating its next generation early through a fourth-generation learning experience, which teaches its family members under the age of 18 about the family’s history, the work of the foundation, and philanthropy more generally. Wasden also recognizes the value of starting education early, noting that she had a somewhat rudimentary understanding of the field and that the next generation is benefitting from a program where they can learn and explore philanthropy together.
Taking the First Step
Letting go of control to foster next-generation participation can feel scary, but consider reframing your hesitations. We often think of philanthropy as society’s risk capital. Briggs invites funders to extend that thinking to the way they share power with younger generations: “What’s the risk in letting a 15- or 16-year-old have some say in what you’re doing? Chances are that you’re going to be really impressed with the ways they show up and the thoughtful questions that they have. They care about your foundation’s reputation too.”
To learn more about best practices for engaging next-generation adults, explore our guide here.
Nicholas (Nick) Tedesco is the president and CEO of the National Center for Family Philanthropy.
Maggie McGoldrick is a senior manager, marketing and communications at the National Center for Family Philanthropy.
[1] The IRS rules specify that activities that private foundations pay for must be in service of the foundation’s charitable mission. Please consult your legal counsel to understand what types of next-generation engagement are allowable.