White House Reaches Out to ‘Next Generation’ Philanthropists

One hundred young members of some of the country’s wealthiest families attended a White House summit late last month as part of an Obama administration effort to forge links with the next generation of billionaire philanthropists, The New York Times writes.

College-age and twenty-something heirs to the Rockefeller, Pritzker, Marriott, and other fortunes discussed action on climate change, human trafficking, urban revitalization, and other issues during the daylong, invitation-only session.

A 2012 Accenture report estimated that more than $30-trillion in wealth will pass from baby boomers to younger generations by around 2050. Other research indicates that more heirs are becoming involved in family foundations in their 20s and 30s.

“A lot of this is not just, you know, collaborations between the administration and philanthropists, but philanthropists finding each other, finding other philanthropists with shared interests,” said Thomas Kalil of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which co-organized the meeting with Nexus, a Washington-based network of young donors, investors, and social entrepreneurs.