Picture a familiar scene. It is the second week of December, and a founder and her husband sit at the kitchen table with a stack of year-end appeals: the alma mater, the hospital capital campaign, a friend’s gala, and the local food bank they have supported for a decade. They write the checks, as they do every year. Then one of them asks a question neither can answer: “What are we actually building with all of this?”
Many families recognize themselves in that moment. Their generosity is real and substantial. What they sense is missing is a thread connecting one gift to the next, and a link between their giving and the rest of their financial life.
The research reflects the same pattern. The 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy found that 81 percent of affluent households gave to charity in 2024, with an average gift total of $33,219. Yet just over 40 percent of affluent donors have a giving strategy, and only 20 percent actively monitor the impact of their gifts. The space between those numbers is where intention lives.
Generosity Deserves a Strategy of Its Own
Entrepreneurs rarely run a business on impulse. They set direction, allocate resources toward what matters most, and review results with a steady eye. Philanthropy often escapes that discipline and instead gets handled through year-end decisions shaped by whoever asks first or most persuasively.
Intentional philanthropy applies the stewardship you bring to your business to the wealth you share with the world. It gives your family a framework for saying yes with conviction and for declining gracefully when a request falls outside what you have chosen to champion.
Step One: Begin With a Family Conversation
Every meaningful giving plan starts with values, and values are best discovered together. Set aside time, well before year-end deadlines, to ask a few simple questions:
- Which causes have shaped our family’s story?
- What change would we most like to see in our community during our lifetime?
- Where do our time and resources make the greatest difference?
- What do we hope our children learn from watching us give?
These conversations often surface themes you already sense but have never named. One spouse may care deeply about access to education, while the other draws energy from local economic development. Once those priorities are named out loud, scattered generosity becomes a shared mission.
Step Two: Give Your Giving a Shape
Once your priorities come into focus, translate them into structure. The Study of Philanthropy cited above found that only 45 percent of affluent donors have a giving budget. (Philanthropy, n.d.) A budget creates room for larger, more meaningful commitments by freeing you from the steady drip of small, disconnected gifts.
Consider narrowing your focus to a few core causes and directing most of your giving there. Deeper relationships with fewer organizations tend to produce greater impact, and they let you see how your support is used. Reserve a smaller, flexible portion for spontaneous generosity, such as a friend’s fundraiser or an unexpected community need.
Step Three: Connect Giving to the Whole Balance Sheet
Here is where many generous families leave meaningful value on the table. Philanthropy is woven into the rest of your financial life. It interacts with your tax picture, your liquidity, your estate plan, and, for business owners, the timing of a future sale or transition.
A few principles worth considering with your advisory team:
Consider what you give, along with how much. In many situations, gifting appreciated assets in place of cash can increase the value that reaches a charity while improving your own tax position.
Watch for high-income years. A liquidity event, such as the sale of a business or a large distribution, often opens a natural window for more significant giving.
Think in decades. Families increasingly organize long-term philanthropy through formal giving structures. Forty-eight percent of affluent households with a net worth between $5 million and $20 million have or plan to establish a giving vehicle within the next three years. The right structure depends on your goals, the level of family involvement you want, and how much control you hope to retain.
Align lifetime giving with your estate intentions. When the causes you champion today reflect the same values as your long-term plans, your generosity becomes part of the story your family carries forward.
Each gift should, in the end, reflect your values and work in harmony with the rest of your plan.
Step Four: Invite the Next Generation In
For many families, philanthropy is the most natural doorway into conversations about wealth and responsibility. Talking about which causes matter, and why, lets children practice stewardship long before they manage significant assets themselves.
Adult children can research organizations, join site visits, or recommend a portion of the family’s annual gifts. These experiences build judgment and confidence. They also give parents a meaningful window into how their children think about money, purpose, and community.
Step Five: Bring Your Full Set of Gifts
Entrepreneurs carry a rare combination of capital, expertise, and relationships. The percentage of affluent households who volunteer rose to 43 percent in 2024, and many find that board service, mentorship, and strategic advising extend their impact well beyond the gift itself. Those same skills that built your business are often exactly what a growing nonprofit needs most.
Step Six: Review With the Same Discipline You Apply Elsewhere
Once a year, sit down as a family and review your giving. Which organizations made progress on the goals you care about? Where did your involvement feel most fulfilling? Should your focus shift as your family, your business, or your community evolves?
This annual rhythm keeps philanthropy tied to purpose, year after year.
Where to Begin
Intentional giving starts with perspective: a clear view of what you value, what you have, and how the two connect. Begin with one family conversation before the year-end appeals start arriving. From there, each decision grows easier, because each one flows from a shared sense of purpose and leads to a more intentional closing to the year.
At Prosperity Road, we help entrepreneurial families see how their philanthropy fits within the whole financial picture, so their generosity serves their family, their values, and the legacy they are building on purpose. When you are ready, we invite you to begin the conversation.
Please note: Each person’s financial situation is unique; this post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax counsel. We encourage you to consult your trusted financial, legal, or tax advisor for guidance tailored to your specific circumstances.
Sources
Lake Institute on Faith & Giving. “The 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households.” Resource Library, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, October 2025.
Bank of America Private Bank and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “Affluent Americans Increase Donations by 30% Over Past Decade, Even as Fewer Give, Finds 2025 BofA Study of Philanthropy.” Press release, September 30, 2025.