Family First - Philanthropy 

Society’s changing. The way that customers make decisions, the way that employers are making decisions are changing. It’s not just about the cost. It’s not just about the wage bill. They want to feel that they are doing something which gives back to society and therefore, within business, businesses are now challenging themselves to say, what can we do within our business model that not only creates value for our shareholders, but actually creates value for the society and the communities that we work in, through our philanthropy?

Companies are increasingly looking at how they support charity, community, in a way which is at the heart of their business model, so that they get something back. It’s a partnership. It’s a win-win.

I think through Family First we recognise, very clearly, the challenges and the opportunities that are unique to family businesses. One of the challenges for any family business is how you inspire the next generation of the family to stay in that business. Philanthropy is quite an interesting angle to inspire the next generation, helping them to look at what can they bring to the family business which is different and actually perhaps bringing the family’s philanthropy into the heart of the business, rather than giving through a separate foundation, which is quite common. And through Family First what we can do is mentor those ideas, join up networks and facilitate introductions so that social enterprise ideas are brought to family businesses and hopefully grown.

Ultimately I think philanthropy decisions are at the heart of business strategy and good philanthropy makes good business sense.