Gift Season: Giving With Intention, Investing With Purpose
As year end appeals start arriving, our Managing Partner, Tory Dietel Hopps, joined Clean Yield Asset Management’s Speaker Series to talk about moving from reactive giving to planned, strategic philanthropy. She spoke both as a philanthropic advisor and as a donor and impact investor herself.
Tory shared practical steps donors can take now:
Name the few issues you care about most. Focusing deepens your impact and gives you a clear, kind way to say no.
Set an annual giving budget, with a smaller budget and set gift levels for friend and family asks.
Favor general operating support. If you make a restricted gift, add 20 to 25 percent in unrestricted funds.
Offer multiyear commitments so organizations can plan ahead.
Align your investments with your giving. Assets in donor advised funds, foundations, retirement and personal accounts can all be invested in solutions to the issues you fund.
She tied it together with Buckminster Fuller’s idea of the “trim tab,” the small flap that turns a large ship. Philanthropic dollars can play that role when they are used with intention.
Tory was joined by Sally Bolter of Impact Assets, who spoke on mission aligned donor advised funds, and Martha Trombley Oakes of the Vermont Community Foundation, who spoke on community foundation giving.