As I sit here in our NEW Your Philanthropy office space surrounded by boxes needing to be unpacked, it is hard for me to believe this journey started five years ago. And now I’m looking to the next five and what’s next for Your Philanthropy. Today, I looked back and found one of the first blogs that I posted as I was leaving Fourth Partner and launching Your Philanthropy. Over the years it has gro ...[Read More]
Yes, I STILL Love This Work!
How to Write a Legacy Statement – The Most Important Gift You Will Leave Behind
Tiny stacks of 35-millimeter slides covered the dining room table. One by one I passed them through the slide viewer. The story of my parents’ earliest years together unfolded from Okinawa to North Carolina to Colorado and Texas. Pictures are only part of the story. Several years ago, dad sent me a handwritten letter, more like a long list of notes that wind through place and time. That’s anothe ...[Read More]
Are You Willing to Trust the Next Generation?
“How about oatmeal for breakfast?” That was the question I asked my dad during a recent visit to his home. He was preoccupied and assumed I would make it like, well, just like it’s supposed to be made. “Sure,” he responded while passing through the kitchen. I busied myself with the simple task of cooking oatmeal. I don’t follow the instructions on the box. After many years ...[Read More]
Hot Dogs, Money and Kids
If you could invent one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be? That’s the question we put to eleven-year-old Jack during the game Phil and His Family’s Adventures in Giving. Joined by his thirteen-year-old brother and another friend of the same age, we took turns answering scripted questions. Questions like, “What is the nicest thing you have ever done for someone” or “What is t ...[Read More]