Giving Compass' Take:

• The Financial Times profiles several veteran philanthropists who described their giving journey and explained how they arrived at giving with a more careful assessment on impact.

• Funders both new and more "seasoned" can appreciate the anecdotes in this story, which will hopefully lead to thoughtful self evaluation.

• For those who want to learn more, here's how to approach impact philanthropy by making changes within.

Ron and Marty Cordes gave money to charity long before they established their family foundation in 2006. However, the earlier sale of Ron’s investment management firm for $230 million enabled the couple to substantially increase the scale of their philanthropy and, says Ron, marked a turning point. “We were going to be writing significantly larger checks, which we were excited about,” he says. “But we also felt a greater responsibility.”

The couple are not alone. When philanthropists free up or acquire wealth, whether through the sale of a business, a rise in stock values or by inheriting family assets, the money often comes with a new sense of responsibility for giving more effectively. This is part of a journey with several stages that range from writing cheques to designing a more strategic approach to giving.

Increased responsibility was something felt by Cathy Halstead, daughter of Sidney Frank, the US businessman who in 2004 sold his Grey Goose vodka brand to Bacardi for more than $2 billion.

“Suddenly we had the ability to give away a tremendous amount of money every year and wanted to think about doing it in a way that, when we all looked back 10 years later, we would feel we’d made a difference,” she says.

Read the full article about why seasoned philanthropists give more strategically by Sarah Murray at Financial Times.