Big money

Charity: Giving while you’re living so you’re knowing where it’s going | Rusty Leonard and Warren Cole Smith

Young Life’s Washington family ranch in Oregon.

What do Christian families with big money—$50 million, $100 million, or more—do when they want to give it away?

In the past, foundations and trusts were the answer. In fact, an astonishing 50,000 foundations exist in the United States today. But some Christians have grown wary of foundations. Over time they often give money to organizations and causes that the founders would have found abhorrent. One example: Theological and fiscal conservative J. Howard Pew supported Billy Graham and funded a biography of John Calvin when he was alive. But today, the Pew Charitable Trusts support policy positions on social issues that Pew would surely find objectionable.

That's why some Christian philanthropists look for other ways to give away large sums. Peb Jackson has worked in fundraising with Focus on the Family and is now with Saddleback Church, raising money for Rick Warren's Global AIDS Initiative. He said, "There is no one formula. All families do it differently. But people who come into significant wealth, from the sale of a business or other means, usually give to organizations they already have a long relationship with."