After earning a doctorate from Brown University, studying at Oxford and establishing himself [Frederick Mulder] in London as an art dealer specializing in European printmaking from 1470 to 1970, particularly the works of Picasso and Munch, he never forgot the importance of philanthropy – or his Prairie roots.

Today he continues to sell art, but Dr. Mulder, 73, is also chair of the Frederick Mulder Foundation, an £7-million ($11.6-million) charitable trust he runs with his three children that finances organizations focusing on climate change, global poverty and social causes.

There’s a growth of giving circles, and crowdfunding, either online or in person, because I think we’ve realized that the really wealthy were always well catered for, they could hire staff and charities paid them a lot of attention. But there’s a whole class of people below that who aren’t very wealthy, and who sometimes aren’t giving at the level that they could be because they’re not privy to the right amount of information or the right stimulus. It’s really helpful to have a peer group, because giving money to social causes is still kind of countercultural. It runs against the grain of capitalist culture, particularly to give to rather unpopular causes like prisoners or refugees or to the developing world, not to the symphony or the local art museum.

First, join a giving circle if you can find one, a network of givers. The other piece of advice is to do a philanthropy training, something that teaches you how to do strategic philanthropy. You visit charities, you do case studies with them, and you learn how to develop your own vision of philanthropy. It’s really useful to treat it like a skill. There are things to learn.

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