Are Charities Losing Out on the Wealth Transfer?

Planned giving officers and other nonprofit executives frequently point to the notion that the upcoming “intergenerational transfer of wealth” will fill charity coffers.

But it might be too early to start counting on those billions.

Robert Frank — the author of “Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich,” predicts in a recent interview with National Public Radio that the current generation of wealthy Americans will pass along 75 percent of their wealth to their children.

Kelly Kleiman, the Chicago consultant who authors The Nonprofiteer, says what’s left over is still “not a trivial sum.” But she worries that too many Americans are concerned more with taking care of their own than taking care of society.

“If three-quarters of everything is going to the kids, that puts [an end] to our sector’s hopeful notion that a huge intergenerational transfer of wealth would produce a tidal wave of charity,” Ms. Kleiman writes. “After all, the parent-legators we’re talking about are people who were themselves beneficiaries of such a transfer, and still their major goal as a group appears to be making money.”

What is your organization doing to persuade future donors to give away some of their fortunes to charity, rather than passing down their wealth? Click on the comments link below to share your thoughts.