Last August I wrote a brief outline of what one might want to include in a Gifting Criteria Statement.

As I was picking through a pile of papers on my desk on Saturday, I came across the actual document our family has at the moment. I thought you might find it interesting and, possibly, useful–at least as a discussion-starting model for your family’s statement: Read the rest of this entry »

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As I noted last week, I wrote an official Holzmann Family Foundation Gifting Criteria document and presented it at our family meeting last Thursday.

It was received rather well, all things considered.

Our legacy planner, who has been in the business for over 15 years, said, “This is the best family foundation gifting policy document I have ever seen.”

He wasn’t commenting on the purposes or directions toward which I was suggesting our family ought to give. He said it was the thoroughness and the depth of thought that had gone into it. That was certainly gratifying to hear!

I thought maybe you would like to know what I had included in the document. So here’s an outline of the subject matter covered in the document. Read the rest of this entry »

Will those who follow you–your sons and daughters–fulfill your charitable intentions? Have you ensured they understand what you mean by what you have said in your final documents?

At our last family meeting, in discussing our charitable interests, one of our sons-in-law said he had no idea how we made choices concerning to whom we would give. At the time, I thought that was rather strange. I thought we had delineated our interests and policies rather well in our Family Wealth Letter of Intent. But apparently not.

So our legacy planners drafted what they called a “Holzmann Family Foundation Gifting Criteria” document and asked me, last week, to modify it for our next family meeting (a meeting to be held later this morning).

As our legacy planners explained, the policy statement “was constructed through the conversations that we have had and what you had put in writing in your prior plan. It is intended to be a guide for the foundation and for potential ministries/charitable organizations.”

Oh!

Sarita and I, both, were rather taken aback by what we read. Read the rest of this entry »