Philanthropy & Impact

Philanthropy & Impact

Wealth Measured Not Just by Assets, But Also by Impact.

Families of wealth often want to build both a family legacy and a charitable legacy, using wealth to foster positive change within and well beyond the family circle. PNC Private Bank Hawthorn® has a dedicated Philanthropy group to help families envision, articulate and achieve unique charitable legacies.


More Pride & Joy in Giving

  • Why are you interested in philanthropy?
  • What topics or areas of interest have resonated or are of interest now? What do you want to accomplish?
  • How do you best stack philanthropic vehicles to accomplish your family’s philanthropic, income, estate, governance, and next generation goals?

With our extensive experience, we can help your family focus on pride and joy of giving. We offer a variety of solutions to help you realize your philanthropic mission and vision, from simplifying your giving with a charitable trust or donor-advised fund, to providing administrative support for private foundations.

Our dedicated team serves families in the discovery, education and planning phases of the philanthropic journey. While traditional philanthropic advice focused solely on which charitable vehicle met the immediate needs for income and estate tax planning, our modern philanthropic advice instead captures each family’s unique perspective and value set, understanding the "Why" and the "What" through a series of questions and activities. Once we understand these fully, the “How” part of the equation will be more fully understood by all family members and both durable and flexible as the family evolves.

The Why, What and How

Creating and executing on your family’s purpose and impact goes far beyond the traditional philanthropic advice. That’s why we are focused on both Philanthropy and Impact.

The world of wealth management is different now. The language we use is no longer passive voice, future tense or preemptive. It’s here. The great transfer of wealth – that $30 Trillion we’ve been reading about for a decade – is in motion. Now.

And what do ultra-high net worth families care about most? What makes them choose a private bank partner?

Answer: If you’ve met one wealthy family, you’ve met one wealthy family. No one size fits all. But there is one commonality. Each family has a shared history and a way of viewing the world that shapes how they will invest, spend, and give their money.

Our job is to listen and learn what matters most to your family, meet you where you are, and solve the problems you can see - and some your family may not be able to see. We are not product pushers. We are problem solvers.

Several of the families we’ve recently established a relationship with have committed their philanthropic dollars first – either via their foundation or their donor advised fund. They know that the way they will evolve as a family is by deploying capital to solve the bigger questions at hand: poverty, hunger, education, healthcare, social and racial inequity. They also like the tangible tax benefits. They’re not leaving money on the table. Each of our families has a different focus because each has a different set of influences. They trust us to help them execute.

Creating and executing on your family’s purpose and impact goes far beyond the traditional philanthropic advice. That’s why we are focused on both Philanthropy and Impact.

Our Why and What Modules Deliver Impact

The Why module. We begin by helping your family understand why philanthropy is meaningful to you in the broader sense. You may think you know, but in the context of our unique time and place, why are you philanthropic? To capture your family’s purpose in an over-arching impact statement is key. An impact statement is different from a mission statement. It guides your family’s overall philanthropy and is succinct. A mission statement guides the activities of each philanthropic vehicle specifically. Your family may have multiple philanthropic vehicles, each with its own mission that rolls up to support the overarching impact statement.

The What module. We answer the questions: what capital do you want to deploy, and for what specific mission(s)? Depending on your family, this may take one meeting or several. For families with philanthropic experience, the What module may take the form of reformatting existing frameworks to accommodate a new Impact Statement and a broader sense of import and longevity. For families new to philanthropy or new to the social impact spectrum, the What module may require several meetings to map out your framework for capital deployment across multiple layers of activity, from grants to impact investing to responsible investing to conscious spending. Depending on your family’s learning style and approach, we have multiple avenues to deliver this experience and to execute on their decisions.

Ultimately, the Philanthropy & Impact team delivers an Amplified Impact Report to your PNC Private Bank Hawthorn Wealth Strategist and Investment Advisor to ensure you have the right philanthropic vehicles both for your estate plan and capital deployment

Hawthorn focuses on understanding your family’s unique perspective and values to determine the structure of philanthropic vehicles and investments.

Each of our families has a different focus because each has a different set of influences. Our philanthropic approach focuses on fully understanding your family’s unique perspective and core values. Only then can we determine how best to structure philanthropic vehicles and investments to achieve the greatest impact.

Guiding Discovery, Education and Planning

We begin by working through the family’s Why module and create an overarching Purpose-Driven Impact statement. Next, we move to the What module which establishes the family’s capital deployment type via funding preferences, timeline, administrative type, priorities, UN Sustainable Development Goal alignment, and leadership style. We also develop sample mission statements for the various funding preferences and impact goals. At this stage the path forward becomes more evident.  Last, we align the family’s impact goals to philanthropic vehicle options, the How module.

Amplify Impact: How do you best combine philanthropic vehicles to accomplish your family’s philanthropic, income, estate, governance, and next generation goals?

The Philanthropy & Impact team delivers the Amplify Impact report to your Wealth Strategist and Investment Advisor. This report will detail all the Why and What modules plus give clear direction on the philanthropic vehicles that are most aligned with the family’s capital deployment type. Additionally, the Amplify Impact report details the family’s ranking of the UN Sustainable Goals, when appropriate. The Wealth Strategist has, at this point, more detailed information than ever before to align capital deployment types with the best philanthropic vehicles for the family’s approach to tax efficiency – both for income and estate planning purposes.

For example, families who are not yet ready for pure philanthropy may prefer opening a 501c4 or 527 to advocate for their pet causes, while also opening a Philanthropic Purpose LLC to invest in early stage impact entrepreneurs. More traditional philanthropic approaches will often include donor advised funds, charitable trusts, private family foundations, and public operating charities. But each vehicle has a certain function, funding source and place to execute on the family’s overall Purpose-Driven Impact statement.

Likewise, the Amplify Impact report provides the Investment Advisor with a clear indication of the family’s investment priorities and values. There are many ways to implement purpose-driven investing, which is why our approach at PNC is a process, not a product. Working with the Purpose-Driven Investing team, the Investment Advisor can help the family further explore aligning their values with their investments in their philanthropic vehicles and beyond.

Insights

Strategic Philanthrophy

Purposeful Giving: The New Age of Philanthropy Explored

Specialized advice is key to executing on a family’s purpose

3 min read

Strategic Philanthrophy

Deciding if You Should Use a Donor Advised Fund

A donor advised fund (DAF) is a fund or account which is separately identified by reference to contributions of a donor or donors.

4 min read

Strategic Philanthrophy

Charitable Giving Strategies

For many people, charitable giving is limited to cash donations for important causes. You may want to consider a more strategic approach to your charitable giving.

3 min read

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