企业家如何在经营企业的同时进行战略捐赠(双语)
2019-11-27 2720

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来源 | 英国金融时报

      企业家亚历山大·马尔斯(Alexandre Mars)是一个连续创业者,我们在之前的文章介绍过这位"法国的比尔·盖茨"。在出售创立的最后一家企业与创建史诗基金会(Epic Foundation)之间,他花了几个月时间一边与妻子和孩子旅行,一边与当地的非政府组织和社会企业家见面,亲身体验社会贫困与不平等,这也是为什么史诗基金会把使命放在支持全球儿童和青年慈善事业。

      这当然是一个企业家成长为慈善家最好的自我发现与探索之路。但并不是所有的企业家在成为慈善家之前都会进行这样的探索。尽管许多人在出售企业后会捐出资金,但还有一些人认为,如果企业家捐赠者继续建设自己的企业,他们可以做更多的事情来支持他们的慈善事业。

      马尔斯说:"经营企业的同时做慈善很困难,他们需要有效的解决方案。"本文中我们通过富达等慈善资产和财富管理机构所做的调研发现,除了慈善家、慈善机构,这些居间服务机构是如何通过系统的分析和战略准备来帮助企业家缩短筛选的过程,并做出有效的战略决策。

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      富达慈善基金会(Fidelity Charitable)去年发布的一项研究发现,计划出售或转让企业的人中,有69%希望将慈善捐赠作为退出策略的一部分。但仍在创业的企业家会发现,他们很难将注意力转移到战略性捐赠上。

      战略性捐赠通常需要认真研究,以找到最有效的慈善机构和值得投资的社会企业,并努力追踪捐赠的成效。"除了缺乏对社会组织的了解和对所取得的影响力的评估,缺乏时间实际上是捐赠的三大障碍之一,"马尔斯说,他建立了史诗基金会,希望使捐赠者从经过审查的慈善机构中进行选择,并监测他们捐赠的影响。

      企业家的另一个障碍是,他们往往不愿意简单地开支票。相反,他们希望将自己作为商业创造者所培养的解决问题的技能应用到慈善事业中,这也需要时间。Beacon Collaborative的联合创始人卡思·德维(Cath Dovey)表示:"要想把钱捐得好,比你想象的要难。"Beacon Collaborative旨在鼓励富人捐得更多。"那些白手起家积累财富的人不会平白无故捐钱,所以他们不会轻易给第一个出现在他们面前的组织捐款。"

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      尽管这些限制看上去影响了企业家制定慈善战略,但在某些情况下,他们比其他公民更强烈希望支持解决社会或环境问题的组织。

      富达慈善研究发现,美国企业家的慈善捐款平均比非企业主高出50%,即每年3577美元,同比非企业主为2383美元。富达慈善基金会总裁帕梅拉·诺利(Pamela Norley)表示:"这个捐款数字似乎很小,但它表明,当财富更多时,可能出现的趋势。"

      在美国,税收规定可能会对这种捐赠产生影响,因为这些规定使企业家在出售企业之前会承诺捐赠。这使它们能够将资本利得税责任最小化,并根据公平的市场价值,对股票等资产进行捐赠抵税。

      然而,富达慈善研究也表明,美国企业家对他们的捐赠有一种情感上的联系,79%的受访者表示,他们认为慈善捐赠是他们自我价值的一个重要组成部分。

      英国的企业家也表达了类似的慈善热情。财富管理公 司Kleinwort Hambros委托YouGov对小企业主进行的调查,结果显示44%的人每月向慈善机构捐款,平均每月126英镑,每年1512英镑。财富管理公司Stanhope Capital首席执行官兼创始合伙人丹尼尔·平托(Daniel Pinto)表示:"在出售企业之前,企业家越来越多地参与慈善活动。"

      对于年轻的企业主来说,他们的捐赠与公司的发展有着紧密的联系。在YouGov的调查中,约60%的千禧一代企业家表示,随着企业的增长,他们会捐出更多的钱(相比之下,总体上只有14%的上一代企业主这么说)。平托表示:"谈到下一代,尤其是千禧一代,人们希望将商业和慈善结合起来。他们对负责任的投资非常敏感。"

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      尽管受访者表达了对捐赠的热情,但德维认为,企业家,尤其是千禧一代,在出售企业之前,向慈善机构捐赠更多。她说:"他们已经在自己的企业中创造了财富,我们知道他们在成长过程中有着更强的社会意识,所以现在是时候让年轻一代参与进来了。"

      一些组织确实正在这么做着。例如,史诗基金会鼓励企业家将公司股份捐赠给慈善机构,让员工和客户参与捐赠。日内瓦全球(Geneva Global),一家慈善咨询公司,为全球事业的捐赠者提供战略、研究和赠款管理服务。咨询公司全球慈善(Global Philanthropy)与财富管理机构Kleinwort Hambros和法国兴业银行(Societe Generale)合作,帮助客户整合他们的财富管理和慈善战略。

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      非营利部门对此也做出了回应。Kleinwort Hambros慈善部门主管丽贝卡•康斯特布尔(Rebecca Constable)表示:"慈善机构本身正变得更具企业家精神,它们正与企业主和企业家合作,寻找将其(公司)文化与某些慈善事业结合起来的方式。" 她认为,让慈善机构了解这些潜在的捐赠者是很重要的,"一个优秀的筹款慈善机构的技能之一,就是与企业家接触,了解个人期待并准备做出怎样的承诺。"

      对于非营利组织来说,这样做是有充分理由的。例如,在Kleinwort Hambros调查中,15%的企业主表示,如果营业额增长10%,他们会做出更大的慈善捐赠(平均每月增加约100英镑)。仅这一项就能使慈善机构每月多获得8200万英镑的捐款。

德维认为,分析这些潜在的慈善基金意味着为企业家提供正确的支持。她说:"我们需要为捐赠者提供解决方案,使得他们通过少量时间和研究就能制定有效的捐赠战略,并使得捐赠成为一生的习惯。"

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原题:How entrepreneurs can give strategically while still running a business-Business owners can find it difficult to divert attention to charity

来源:Financial Times

日期:2019年5月10日


Between selling the last of the businesses he founded and creating the Epic Foundation, which supports children and youth charities around the world, entrepreneur Alexandre Mars spent several months travelling with his wife and children, meeting local NGOs and social entrepreneurs and encountering poverty and inequality at first hand. 

Not all entrepreneurs embark on such an exploration before becoming philanthropists. But while many follow the sale of a business by giving money away, some argue that more could be done to support entrepreneur donors while they are still building their enterprise."Running a business is hard," says Mars. "They need solutions." 


Entrepreneurs often react to a liquidity event — industry speak for selling their company — by writing a large cheque or setting up a charitable foundation. A study published last year by Fidelity Charitable found that 69 per cent of those planning to sell or pass on their business want to make charitable giving part of the exit strategy. 

But entrepreneurs still building a business can find it difficult to divert attention to strategic giving, which often requires research to find the most effective charities and social enterprises and efforts to track how their donations are being spent. 


"Along with lack of trust in social organisations and lack of knowledge of the impact they achieve, lack of time is in fact one of the three main obstacles to giving," says Mars, who established Epic Foundation to enable donors to choose from charities that have been vetted and to monitor the impact of their gifts. 


Another obstacle for entrepreneurs is that they are often reluctant to simply write cheques. Instead, they want to apply the problem-solving skills they have honed as business creators to their philanthropy — something that also takes time. 

"It's harder than you think to give away well," says Cath Dovey, a co-founder of the Beacon Collaborative, which aims to encourage wealthy people to give more. "And what people who make their own money really dislike is feeling that they're throwing money down the drain, so they're not going to give to the first organisation that comes their way."


Still, while these constraints can make it hard for entrepreneurs to develop a philanthropic strategy, the desire among entrepreneurs to support organisations addressing social or environmental problems is strong — in some cases more so than among other citizens. 


The Fidelity Charitable study found that US entrepreneurs donate 50 per cent more to charity on average than non-business owners — an annual $3,577 compared with $2,383 for non-business owners. 


"The numbers seem small, but it's indicative of what may be to come when there's more wealth there," says Pamela Norley, president of Fidelity Charitable. 


In the US, tax regulations may have an influence on this giving, since the rules make it attractive for entrepreneurs to commit to donations before selling the business. This enables them to minimise their capital gains tax liability and set off the donation of assets such as shares against their tax bill, based on their fair market value. 


However, the Fidelity Charitable study also indicates that US entrepreneurs have an emotional connection to their giving, with 79 per cent of respondents saying they see charitable giving as a critical part of who they are.


Entrepreneurs in the UK express a similar enthusiasm for philanthropy. In a YouGov survey of small business owners commissioned by Kleinwort Hambros, the wealth management firm, 44 per cent said they gave money to charitable organisations every month, with an average of £126, or an annual £1,512. 


"Entrepreneurs are increasingly involved in philanthropy before selling their business," says Daniel Pinto, chief executive and founding partner of Stanhope Capital, the wealth management firm. 


For younger business owners, a strong link exists between their giving and the growth of their company. In the YouGov survey, some 60 per cent of millennial entrepreneurs said they would give more as the business grew (compared with 14 per cent of owners overall who said this). 


Nor do today's entrepreneurs see their ability to make an impact solely in terms of grant making. "When you talk about the next generation, particularly the millennials, there is a desire to mix business and philanthropy. They are very sensitive to responsible investments," says Pinto. 


But while survey respondents express enthusiasm for giving, Dovey believes that entrepreneurs, particularly the millennial generation, could be giving more to charity before they sell the business. "They're already wealth creators in their own businesses and we know they have grown up with a much more socially conscious mentality, so it's the right time to engage people," she says. 


Organisations are emerging to do this. Epic Foundation, for example, enables entrepreneurs to pledge shares in their company to charity, to engage their employees and clients in giving. 


Geneva Global, a philanthropic consultancy, provides strategy, research and grant management services for donors giving to global causes. And Global Philanthropic, an advisory, works with Kleinwort Hambros and French bank Société Générale to help clients integrate their wealth management and philanthropic strategies.

The non-profit sector is also responding. "Charities themselves are becoming more entrepreneurial and are working with business owners and entrepreneurs to find ways in which their [company's] culture can be aligned to certain charitable causes," says Rebecca Constable, head of philanthropy at Kleinwort Hambros. 


She argues that it is important for charities to get to know these potential donors. 


"Part of the skill of a good fundraising charity is to engage with the entrepreneur and to understand the level of involvement the individual wants and is prepared to commit," she says. 


For the non-profit world, there is good reason to do so. In the Kleinwort Hambros survey, for example, 15 per cent of business owners said they would respond to a 10 per cent increase in turnover by making bigger charitable donations (with the average increase at about £100 a month). This alone would make an additional £82m a month available to charities. 


Dovey argues that tapping into these potential philanthropic funds means providing entrepreneurs with the right support. "We need ways of engaging people that don't require huge amounts of time and research," she says. "We need to develop solutions to make sure that giving becomes a lifetime habit."