Giving Compass' Take:

• The National Center for Family Philanthropy examines the habits family foundations should embrace in order to maximize the impact of their giving.

• How are you working to instill good habits in future generations? 

• Read more about family philanthropy and how values are passed down to daughters and sons.

How can we intentionally create a healthy culture for wealthy families? What are some of its characteristics?

10 Healthy Habits:
  1. Establish shared family values.
  2. Define a family mission and vision. 
  3. Establish healthy limits or boundaries.
  4. Support family members in leading lives with purpose. Successful legacy families are very intentional in supporting each member of the family to live a life with purpose and meaning.
  5. Prepare heirs to manage wealth in ways to foster well-being. Families that flourish do active financial parenting with both young and adult children.
  6. Practice skillful communication. What families who communicate well have in common is an intention to be clear and open.  They avoid the manipulation, secrets, and power games that foster dysfunction and distrust.
  7. See the family as a learning system. Families who are most successful at passing their values on to future generations understand the importance of seeing mistakes as something to learn from.
  8. See the family as a steward of the wealth. I have worked with a number of families who had very different political or social beliefs from each other, but they were in alignment around the value of making a contribution in the lives of others.
  9. Value giving back. A sense of gratitude and a desire to give back are common in flourishing legacy families.
  10. Have a long-term view of the family. It’s important for all adult members of the family to talk about the future, as this kind of thinking dramatically resets conversations.  They emphasize questions like, “What’s your dream? What do you want to be looking back on 35 years from now?

Read the full article on healthy culture for wealthy families by Courtney Pullen at National Center for Family Philanthropy.