Michigan Estate Planning Blog

The Family Foundation In The Shadow Of Giants

In the face of big-time charities – the Gates Foundations, the Case Foundations, former presidents and the Rockefellers of today – small family charities and foundations have a little trouble making it into the spotlight. It’s an unfortunate problem of recognition that the Wall Street Journal points out over in “Small-Fry Family Foundations,” and many new charities face. Many new retirees are ready for a new challenge and a second career of giving back. After all, once they are playing the “back nine” of life, several new retirees are looking to make a difference with the fruits of their life’s work. Many choose to create a family foundation to make the most meaningful use of their time and money, not to mention to achieve their charitable objectives. How unfortunate it is, then, to see such lofty objectives fall by the wayside or simply go unnoticed because it is eclipsed. It’s crime enough to see mom-n’-pops go under when it comes to business and this isn’t just business; it is charity. So what ingredients make a family foundation successful? How do you steal a bit of the limelight to help your cause? These are things to think about even in the formation of the foundation, and even as you consider this as a family mission and second career. The original article contains advice and a case study or two to ponder if you already have or are considering creating a family foundation.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (March 28, 2014) “Small-Fry Family Foundations”

For more information, see www.jerryreiflawyer.com

Family Foundations – Doing Well by Doing Good Saginaw, Michigan

There are a lot of things that can keep a family together, just as there are many ways to keep a business together. But, then again, there are just as many ways to drive the family or the business apart. Regardless, ensuring continuity of both your family harmony and your family business is as much an art as it is a science. For a family with means, and perhaps also as a model for a family with fewer resources, a family foundation may offer just a unifying bond. A family foundation represents a way of doing good as a family and even making those foundation goals the goals of the family itself. This kind of unifying goal was explored by CNBC in an article titled “Family Foundations Prepare for the Next Generation.” If you are the family member who established the family foundation, the goal should expressly be to include and to establish a succession for your family foundation. In point of fact, a family foundation is like a family business and shares many of the same concerns, anxieties, and goals. Now, even a family of modest means can see the value in the family foundation model. If for no other reason, your family foundation can be a means of doing good as a family and letting everyone in the family work together to accomplish that good end. Is there some goal around which your family can come together?

Reference: CNBC (February 9, 2013) “Family Foundations Prepare for the Next Generation”

For more information, see www.jerryreiflawyer.com

 

Family Foundations – Doing Well by Doing Good Saginaw, Michigan

There are a lot of things that can keep a family together, just as there are many ways to keep a business together. But, then again, there are just as many ways to drive the family or the business apart. Regardless, ensuring continuity of both your family harmony and your family business is as much an art as it is a science. For a family with means, and perhaps also as a model for a family with fewer resources, a family foundation may offer just a unifying bond. A family foundation represents a way of doing good as a family and even making those foundation goals the goals of the family itself. This kind of unifying goal was explored by CNBC in an article titled “Family Foundations Prepare for the Next Generation.” If you are the family member who established the family foundation, the goal should expressly be to include and to establish a succession for your family foundation. In point of fact, a family foundation is like a family business and shares many of the same concerns, anxieties, and goals. Now, even a family of modest means can see the value in the family foundation model. If for no other reason, your family foundation can be a means of doing good as a family and letting everyone in the family work together to accomplish that good end. Is there some goal around which your family can come together?

Reference: CNBC
(February 9, 2013) “Family Foundations Prepare for the Next
Generation”

For more information, see www.jerryreiflawyer.com