Five Practical Insights for Focused Philanthropy
We recently hosted our UK London Philanthropy Conference 2026, exploring philanthropy as a strategic part of family wealth planning and the role of heritage giving in educating the next generation.
Our speakers, ranging from largescale donors to family office professionals to environmental investor, shared practical, experience-led guidance for people at any point on their philanthropic journey:
Purpose is paramount
Establish the reasons why.
Whilst there is much temptation to put money to work quickly, we encourage families to consider their approach to philanthropy with a longer-term lens, says Greg Harris, Stonehage Fleming Head of Family Office for the British Islands. “Greater spending does not necessarily guarantee better outcomes. In fact, my experience suggests the contrary. While there is often a desire to use money to do good, without a strategy, it’s rarely effective for solving the problem. We start with is a single word: purpose. What is the purpose of your family’s philanthropic activity? By defining their philanthropic purpose up front, families have a better chance of achieving their objectives, whether that is creating a deeper impact in a specific sector or strengthening family values around their cultural capital.”
Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.
Now your family has established its purpose, what’s next? Focusing on the problem.
In a fireside chat, our keynote speaker, British philanthropist and Founder of the charitable foundation This Day, Gary Lubner argued that effective philanthropy begins with a deep desire to understand and show up for the problem. As he put it, “Far too many of we philanthropists fall in love with the solution. Don’t worry about what the answer is; fall in love with the problem. Many businesspeople come to philanthropy thinking that they know all the answers because they run a big organisation and know how to manage people. They don’t know all the answers. They should focus first on the challenge at hand and leave the solutions to other people.”
Ensure heritage philanthropy is community-led
How best to approach donations to heritage causes?
Drawing on her experience at the World Monuments Fund, Britain, Ewi Shafran says that effective preservation is not simply about funding projects but also ensuring that local communities are meaningfully invested in the outcomes. “We ask communities to have ‘skin in the game’ and contribute financially, even in small ways. On a practical level, we train not one but two generations of stonemasons and teach them how to write policies so they can work with governments. Ultimately, the goal is to create lasting change, so that the past can inform the future and heritage becomes a living, sustainable part of local identity and not just a static preservation effort.”
Long-term commitment is crucial
Meaningful impact needs support well beyond the early development phase, according to Katie Self, Global Environmental Opportunities Fund Manager at Pictet, whose background combines a PhD in materials science with experience as an industrial’s equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and research work across academia and startups. “Truly impactful technologies are never ‘one and done’. It is not enough to fund them for a short period; the entire ecosystem must be built around them. We need to back innovation through the breakthrough phase and help it scale. Lasting philanthropic impact depends on sustained engagement and reinvestment as technologies mature and adapt to changing conditions.”
Measuring impact is complex but essential
Measuring impact is a central part of looking at the success of philanthropic endeavours.
Yet so many philanthropists struggle with it argues, strategic fundraiser, Ursola Rimbotti. “Supporters, particularly those coming from the financial world, are increasingly demanding clear, quantifiable results. Establishing your long-term mutual win-wins and building robust systems for impact analysis and evaluation from the outset of a project is crucial. This includes balancing the use of quantitative data with qualitative assessment to provide a fuller picture of outcomes.”
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