In the early days of foundations, the transition from the first generation to the second often didn’t begin until the children of the founder were gathered in a lawyer’s office to read his or her will.
There, the founder’s adult children would often be surprised to learn that the family had created a foundation. In some cases, they didn’t even know that their families had enough wealth to support philanthropy.
Thankfully, those days are largely over.
Today, these abrupt transfers are becoming less common—and they are giving way to a much more deliberate approach to involving the next generation.