Nevada Estate Planning & Elder Law Information Blog

Passing On Your Charitable Giving Tendencies

The most important thing that parents pass on to their children is their values, and for many, charitable giving is amount those values.  So how do you build that charitable instinct in your child or grandchild?  As with most things in life, children learn by example. 

If you volunteer, your children are more likely to follow in your footsteps.  Parents involved in charitable pursuits, tend to have children with hearts for charity as well.  So next time you volunteer your services to someone in need, consider involving your child or grandchild as well.  Even chores as simple as sweeping up in a soup kitchen or serving food at a homeless shelter can begin a great foundation.  Assuming that you volunteer in a safe environment, having your child "see you in action" can have a double benefit.

Another idea recently passed on to me by Certified Financial Planner, Jocelyn Holzwarth, is using a child's allowance to support charitable giving.  Consider matching a small portion of the allowance if your child contributes some of the allowance to a worthy cause.  For younger children, making the cash gift tangible by turning it into a small toy for underprivileged children can make a big difference. 

How to Help Your Children Develop a Heart for Charity

A common concern expressed by parents is how to teach charity and the joy of giving to their children. Many parents are concerned that while their own personal financial success has made opportunities available to their children, this same financial success sometimes makes it more difficult for their children to truly appreciate the advantages they receive. The Youth Philanthropy Program is an initiative at the Nevada Community Foundation designed to help foster the value of giving, in children, as well as adults. The program allows small groups of children to learn about our community's needs, charitable giving, and to develop their own philanthropic values, by creating a shared pool of monies for charity that the children get to direct. During the pilot program, young people visited local charities and met a number of times over a six-month period. They then made decisions about how they would distribute the pool of money under their control. Ultimately, they distributed grants to Nevada Childhood Cancer, Communities in Schools, and the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Youth Initiative. The Nevada Community Foundation newsletter noted that "The money, is merely a tool. The goal of the program is to get kids excited and engaged in building a stronger community. As one parent noted, I will know this is successful when my kids come to me asking for more money to give to charity." To learn more about the Youth Philanthropy Program, contact Chuck Salter, Director of Development, at chuck@nevadacf.org or call 892-2326.