Yesterday evening, as part of our 'Lessons in Legacy' series, we were privileged to host a thought-provoking panel discussion, examining the growing focus within our client base on philanthropy as part of the creation of a meaningful legacy.

In celebrating our 300 year anniversary, we have taken time to pause and reflect on the concept of legacy both from our own and our clients' perspective. What is clear from our research with the private wealth market, is that legacy is no longer just about wealth preservation. Wealth holders are increasingly seeing philanthropy as a core part of their legacy. When done well, it delivers greater environmental and societal impact, creates a broader sense of purpose around wealth, and encourages pride in the footprint our clients leave behind. However, whilst there has been a growth in interest in philanthropy, the level of impactful giving in the UK is not where it should be, despite it being needed more than ever against the backdrop of climate change, wars, and growing wealth inequality.

The panel discussion was hosted by Visiting Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School & Founder of “The Do One Better” Knowledge Hub and Podcast, Alberto Lidji and the discussion was enriched with some of the leading philanthropy experts - Dr Beth Breeze OBE, Director of the Centre for Philanthropy, University of Kent, Derek Bardowell. CEO of Ten Years’ Time and Knowledge Equity Fellow at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School, Ben Morton-Wright, founder, president and group CEO of Global Philanthropic, Jake Hayman, Co-founder & Senior Advisor at the Good Ancestor Movement and Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive at Asthma And Lung UK. Together with our audience, our panel brought about a rich and challenging conversation that explored the following questions in detail:

• How does the concept of legacy impact a person's approach to philanthropy?
• Why is it important for established philanthropists and potential philanthropists to consider the impact of their philanthropic initiatives?
• Is philanthropy too much of a distraction from the important purpose of tax; and how can our tax system continue to facilitate greater philanthropy?
• How do we significantly move the needle on philanthropic giving?

As part of the concluding comments from the panel, we were asked to help our clients to visualise "What sort of world do you want to live in". Whilst there is a sense of optimism about the role philanthropy can play in creating a better world, it was held that it was important to recognise that to have real impact it's necessary to think more deeply about the needs of our communities; the underlying causes of social issues; to take action sooner rather than later and to ensure that you apply such values to the management of the entirety of your wealth, with a particular focus on your tax contributions.

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing more short blogs and podcasts that look at some of these issues in greater detail.