Helping Families Find Purpose

Avery Fontaine, head of Hawthorn Purpose for PNC Private Bank Hawthorn, helps families address the human side of wealth. She talks about how families can find purpose:

“Today, we see that while investments are obviously a cornerstone — preserving wealth is clearly still important — the human side of wealth is gaining prominence and sometimes even eclipsing preserving the wealth.

“The human side of wealth has two dimensions: the internal and the external. Hawthorn Purpose combines the Institute for Family Success, which focuses on the internal workings and health of the family; and our Philanthropy and Impact team, which focuses on how the family shows up and creates impact in their community and their chosen areas of interest.

“We have a process we go through to talk about purpose:

  • Identify. We identify what’s going on with the family: what their priorities are right now and for the future. We’re trying to get away from the phrase ‘family dynamics’ — there can be some shame associated with that if the dynamics are poor. We don’t want to make people feel that they’re already behind if the family doesn’t get along.
  • Understand. We delve a little deeper on the inner workings of the family, and we also look at the family’s philanthropic and/or community capital — how they show up outside the family. How are they deploying capital in a way that reflects who they are and what they want to accomplish? Traditionally, this has been a philanthropic conversation, but that is changing to reflect a wider range of options for community engagement and problem-solving.
  • Engage. What is the tailored approach that this family needs? They may need to think through some things about how they run as a family, and a family constitution can be one deliverable within their family governance framework. Then you have questions about how to engage the rising generation, the family as a whole, and of course, in their community.”

About the Author

Margaret Steen

Margaret Steen is the editor of FO Pro, The Family Office Professional. Based in Silicon Valley, she has written for Family Business Magazine for more than 15 years.


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