The Process Issue
One of the most common challenges I see in family philanthropy has very little to do with generosity, and a lot to do with next-generation engagement and decision-making process. Not because families don’t want next gens involved, but because they often haven’t agreed on what involvement actually means.
In many families, next-generation engagement begins with good intentions and vague expectations. Younger family members are invited to participate, attend meetings, or “weigh in.”
But the process for how decisions are made, and who truly holds authority, remains unclear or unchanged. So things feel off.
Meetings happen, input is shared, decisions quietly revert to the same people they always have. Engagement starts to feel performative on one side, and frustrating on the other. (Note: a calendar invite is not a governance strategy.)
What’s important to name here: this isn’t just a participation issue. It’s a process issue.
When families haven’t aligned on why different generations are involved, how decisions are actually made and what kinds of authority accompanies responsibility, philanthropic strategy struggles to land - no matter how thoughtful it is.
In my work as a philanthropic advisor to existing or budding private family foundations, solving for this friction usually means doing two things at the same time:
Designing decision-making processes that are explicit, shared and durable;
Ensuring that next-generation voices are included meaningfully, not symbolically, within those processes.
When engagement and process are built intentionally, philanthropy can function as a true vehicle for shared work.
