For a Rainy Day: When Life Happens, So Does Charitable Giving
Trend: The pandemic reminded us that life can change in an instant. Our donors have learned that lesson, factoring in major life developments when making their philanthropic decisions.
Lindsey & Ted Williams
For some donors, the ever-changing world around us not only inspires and sharpens their philanthropic focus, but it also brings newer and bigger giving opportunities. Post-pandemic, our donors are factoring in not only their own life changes but also the uncertainty of the world around them.
In 2022, individual fundholders awarded more than 9,600 grants and expanded their impact with increases in the average size of grants – reaching $26,000, a 27% increase in size from 2018, with a median grant size of $1,875. Contributions to FFTC's Center for Personal Philanthropy have grown steadily since the pandemic, topping $800 million in 2022 – that's up from $535 million in 2021 and $241 million in 2020.
Donors also demonstrated a deeper commitment to long-term sustainable funding sources, such as endowed funds. Over the past five years the average contribution to endowed funds – which are structured to ensure a perpetual source of funding year after year – has increased 56%, evidence that our donors are thinking of the long-term health of the nonprofits they support.
In 2015, Ted Williams launched a simple yet game-changing new media outlet – Charlotte Agenda. Comprised of a website, an emailed newsletter and an Instagram account, Charlotte Agenda delivered timely, useful content in a smart, fresh format, and quickly grew its audience and reputation as a go-to media source and partner. Five years later, Williams sold Charlotte Agenda to the Washington-based news site, Axios.
With the sale of the business in 2020 came new considerations and opportunities – charitable giving strategies being one of them. That’s why Williams moved his donor advised fund to FFTC, his local community foundation.
“As an entrepreneur, income can be lumpy, so it made sense to start a donor advised fund from a tax perspective,” Williams said. “I didn't even know what one was until my private equity mentor shared the strategy with me!”
Many fundholders are introduced to the Foundation through their financial advisors who see the benefit of philanthropic giving and working with a community foundation such as FFTC. Often those fundholders, like in the case of Williams, are making choices because they’ve come to a major life decision.
“We sold the media business covering Charlotte,” Williams said, “so it was important to us that our philanthropic dollars go back into the local community."
Williams said his family is still deciding on how they will use their donor advised fund and what causes to support. One of the reasons they chose FFTC was because they wanted to get smarter about giving.
"Supporting families and children is important to us,” he said, before naming one nonprofit he and his wife admire. “Foster Village Charlotte is an organization that we support with our time and money."
For Williams, life has changed a lot in the last few years. And it’s exactly that change that is fueling his desire to give back.
"Selling a business is a weird feeling,” he said. “I've found the fulfillment comes from being part of the team's growth and using the money to bring new things into the world that you think it needs — whether that's creating new businesses or plowing time and resources into helping others." (Continued below.)
Increase in the average contribution to endowed funds since 2018
$1,875
Median grant size from FFTC Donor Advised Funds in 2022
Doug Sleeper joined the Paula Takacs Foundation board just as it was launching a new project: Growing Hope Through Art.
The Sleeper Family
Cancer Diagnosis Leads Family to Give Back
When Doug Sleeper reflects on his philanthropic journey, he describes it as beginning like a lot of others who worked in the corporate sector. A longtime executive with Wachovia and then Wells Fargo, he initially gave primarily through his company’s workplace giving campaigns. But over time, and in the wake of his and his wife’s own experiences, their giving became personal.
“You get to a point in life where there are causes that mean something to you,” said Sleeper. “We give to different causes, sometimes to support a friend or when an associate asks us. But where we really lean in is cancer and cancer research.”
Doug was diagnosed with osteo sarcoma at the age of 32, and he and his wife Kim spent the following year focused on his diagnosis and treatment. Years later, Kim was diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer.
“The type of sarcoma I had was unique in that it typically is a pediatric cancer,” said Sleeper. “We were in doctors’ offices and cancer hospital wards with children and their families.”
As a result, the Sleepers became supporters of Make-A-Wish Foundation, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, the Go Jen Go Foundation and most recently the Paula Takacs Foundation for Sarcoma Research, one of the most successful grassroots sarcoma foundations in the country.
Sleeper joined the Paula Takacs Foundation board just as it was launching a new project – Growing Hope Through Art. Through permanent art installations, the project raises awareness for funding cancer research, and tells related stories of hope. The first will be installed at Levine Cancer Institute and feature a commissioned work by renowned glass artist and sarcoma survivor Jake Pfeifer of Hot Glass Alley.
The Sleepers are one of the primary underwriters of the project with a gift made through their FFTC Donor Advised Fund.
The Sleepers first established a donor advised fund through his employer when they began to be more intentional with their charitable giving. When he retired in 2019, Sleeper chose to move their fund to FFTC, as they valued the local community connections and opportunities to meet other civic and charitably-minded people. The grantmaking experience from their FFTC Donor Advised Fund has been especially rewarding.
"We want to make an impact while we can still be around to see that impact," said Sleeper. "My wife loves going on the FFTC website to make grants. I'm not kidding when I say she tells people it's her favorite thing to do."