Giving While Living.
Where's the thrill in leaving it all in your will? You will experience far greater life satisfaction, happiness and purpose by donating time, money and skills during your lifetime to help others.
A philanthropist is a person who wants to improve the welfare of others and the planet by making generous donations to good causes.
A philanthropy advisor will guide you from where you are now to where you want to be and will help you gain a clear understanding of the positive impact you can have.
Discuss, Define, Design, Donate 🔁
Experience philanthropy in 4D
4D Philanthropy is a journey designed especially for people who are new to philanthropy. It covers all the bases needed to ensure you are practising smart philanthropy. Experienced philanthropists who have already created a Giving Plan may not need to begin their journey from the start. Get in touch to discuss your requirements.
Do you want to use your wealth to make the World a little bit better? Let's start by discussing what you care about, your passions, motivations, and attitude towards donating to good causes with the aim to developing a shared understanding of what you'd like to achieve. We'll chat about the impact you'd like to have, the resources you've got available and which solutions might help you achieve your philanthropic goals.
You may have come into a large sum of money and aren't sure how to begin your philanthropy journey or maybe you are busy working so you don't have the time to research and develop a plan. We can help you with this.
Some philanthropists like their families to be involved in their journey, while others want to go it alone, donating anonymously. Whichever route you prefer, we'll discover your preference together.
The discussion stage may include:
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Values clarification - what values guide your philanthropic aspirations?
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Resource assessment - do you have the time, money and skills available to be philanthropic?
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Draft goal setting - what do you hope to achieve?
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Stakeholder analysis - who and how do you want others to be involved in your philanthropy journey?
01. Discuss your philanthropic interests
You may want to set up your own trust or foundation aligned with the causes you're passionate about. We're not qualified to give you investment, legal or tax advice so we’ll coordinate with experts who can explore the most tax-efficient and suitable structures.
The design stage may include:
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Vehicle structure - Discuss if setting up a foundation is right for you or if you maybe better suited to a donor advised fund (DAF). This will involve getting legal, wealth and tax advice from qualified experts.
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Due diligence - researching and selecting good causes and organise project visits.
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Setting up a grant programme - how will you donate money?
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Collaborations - what are the opportunities to learn, share, meet experts, other philanthropists and partners?
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Creative philanthropy - generate ideas for doing things a different way.
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Signposting - sharing learning materials and training opportunities.
03. Design a Giving Plan
This is where we start to agree the scope of your philanthropic journey. We do this to help guard against burnout which comes from being pulled in too many directions at once. We’ll look at the UN's Sustainable Development Goals framework and what the current philanthropy trends are and where there is the most need for your support.
The defining stage may include:
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Landscape analysis - what type of causes do you want to support?
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Mission statement - a short statement about what you'd like to achieve.
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Theory of change - clarifying a common pathway to a shared goal.
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SMART objectives - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives to meet your philanthropic goals.
02. Define your smart objectives
The philosopher Aristotle said: "To give away money is an easy matter... but to decide to whom to give it and how large and when, and for what purpose and how, is not an easy matter.” But with your Giving Plan complete it's time to take action and start donating the smart way.
The donate stage may include:
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Giving your donations - safely transferring large sums of money to causes.
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Relationship management - ongoing communication with grantees and projects.
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Evaluation - do you want to measure the impact your donation has?
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PR - would you like others to know about your donations
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Celebration - you've just done something amazing! Time to share that warm glow you're feeling.