Strategic giving: Approaching philanthropy with a different mindset

In spite of the recession and the still recovering economy, generosity remained abundant in the US. The philanthropic community has been notably active in the previous year, with about 64 million volunteers and 65 percent of households donating to a charity or a specific cause. As a whole, foundations, corporations, and individuals gave about $298 billion.

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While philanthropic work in the US continues to be a strong driving force in promoting social change, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen noted that there is still much that can be improved. Ms. Arrillaga-Andreessen, who teaches four philanthropy courses at Stanford, has made materials on studying and teaching philanthropy available online to encourage other learning institutions to start their own programs.

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Majority of the donors to philanthropic ventures are driven by emotion or a generous feeling. Therein lies a great but yet untapped potential because there are greater things that can be achieved when people take time to learn about the potential impact of their donations.

Shifting from emotion-driven giving to strategic philanthropy can empower the givers. The new generation of philanthropists is hungry for more information, and they want to know just how much impact their efforts and donations will have. In giving them the materials they need, they can go beyond being passive givers who are just hoping that their contribution will help and become effective planners and implementers of social change.

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This Twitter page on Alex von Furstenberg is regularly updated with links to stories about developments in philanthropy around the nation.

Comfort Zone Camp: Because grieving children need a fun and safe place to go to

Many children are left unaided and unguided following the death of their parents. Relatives may feel at a loss on how to help children who are experiencing grief. Fortunately, Comfort Zone Camp helps create a world where grieving children are not left to mourn alone. Instead, it provides a community that allows children to heal, grow, and lead fulfilling lives.

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Comfort Zone Camp is a nonprofit 501(c)3 bereavement camp open to children who have experienced the death of a parent, a primary caregiver, or a sibling. It transforms the lives of grieving children by understanding their needs, appreciating what they can do, and giving them a voice.

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The bereavement and therapeutic program at Comfort Zone Camp is unique from other therapeutic programs because of the following features:

• Year-round program. Issues may arise any time of the year for grieving children. Thus, the camp provides a strong program and a support community from which campers may draw strength from all throughout the year.
• Free for all children. Children don’t have to worry about the expenses as the program is free for all of them.
• Designed to suit children’s needs. The program is based on how children—not adults—actually grieve.
• 'Little Buddy/Big Buddy’ system. This is a matching system wherein a camper is paired with a volunteer (1:1). The pairing model provides each camper with a dedicated mentor or friend to help in the healing process.
• Opportunities for removing barriers. The camp uses loss to provide children with some ways to meet and bond with other kids who are experiencing the same situation. This makes them feel that they belong, which would help them bid goodbye to loneliness.

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Not all children affected by a death in the family are able to express this grief in the healthy way. At this point in their life, it is as crucial to show them how to do this as much as giving them the love and affection they so need.

Alex von Furstenberg helps children cope with grief by supporting Comfort Zone Camp. Visit this Facebook page to know more of his philanthropic efforts.

Lessons in philanthropy

Little by little, the world is changing its views on philanthropy. It is no longer the endeavor of wealthy individuals with cash to spare. With the advancements in technology and information, philanthropy has become a challenge to every individual to contribute to causes and programs that are geared toward solving some of the various problems that the world has today.

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In order to give more power to the act of giving and to have it make more of an impact, people will have to learn about modern philanthropy. There is a need for people to know about the various aspects of philanthropic work (what works and what doesn’t) for them to be able to formulate better solutions for the many problems of the modern world.

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Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, who teaches philanthropic courses at Stanford University, has revealed in an interview that more than half of all individual philanthropists give to charity without knowing exactly how their contribution will impact the cause. She further goes to say that there is a massively untapped potential there and that results could be improved if the givers were better informed of how their generosity can be translated into something that affects the world in a more meaningful way.

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Recently, Ms. Arrillaga-Andreessen has shared her notes and syllabi on philanthropy online, in hopes that making educational material on charity easily available can spur other educational institutions to start offering their own courses on philanthropy and strategic giving.

Follow this Twitter page on Alex von Furstenberg to find more articles on matters related to philanthropic work.

Is everything you need to know about investing right?

Whatever you want to invest in—whether on stocks, mutual funds, annuity, or an IRA account—never plunge into it without having all essential questions answered. The government reminds every investor that every investment draws some risks at some degree. No matter how seasoned you are as an investor, there are ‘fine prints’ to consider when making a wise investment decision. For all you know, the things you might have picked up in the past may lead you to financial catastrophe today.

With this in mind, Forbes presents three rules that investors—even high-profile ones like Alex von Furstenberg and Jeremy Stoppelman—can benefit from.

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Rule # 1
Familiarize yourself with dollar-cost averaging. It emphasizes on the importance of periodic allocation of a certain amount of money into stock investments rather than investing it all at once, which has a lot of risks.

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Rule # 2
As you come close to retirement age, take it easy on aggressive investing. Moderation is the key as you would want to protect your assets.

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Rule # 3
Know that choosing a high-performing mutual fund in implementing your asset allocation makes sense since top raters tend to stay in control of the things they do best.

Don’t just take this advice as it is. Seek more answers from various resources. Understand that at the end of the day, the important things are those that make you comfortable and those that work best for you.

Alex von Furstenberg is the chief investment officer and founder of Ranger Global Advisors, a family office focused on opportunistic value-based investing. Learn more about investing by logging on to this Facebook page.

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards: 9 decades of creativity

For 90 years, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards have recognized some of America’s greatest figures during their younger years, like Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, and Myla Goldberg, for their artistic and literary talents. Several others more will be lined up to be given accolades by the 9-decade-old award-giving body.

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Encouraging the creative process since 1923, the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards have acknowledged the vision of the American youth and discovered students for their creative talents. In recent years, more and more young artists have submitted samples of their work to become part of this effort. Works in the areas of literature, film, photography, sculpting, and education have become significant in strengthening the organization’s vision.

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In 1994, the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists and Writers was founded with the mission of discovering teenagers’ talents and maintaining the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards’ legacy of elevating creative talents to the national level.

The Awards’ alumni talents include artist Andy Warhol, photographer Richard Avedon, actors Robert Redford and Alan Arkin, and filmmaker Stan Brakhage. The Awards also helps the youth excel in other areas outside the arts, such as medicine, finance, and science.

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Business magnate Alex von Furstenberg is one of the supporters of the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. This Facebook page shares more information about his philanthropic work.

Venturing into the unknown with philanthropy

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Lately, there has been a lot of buzz about how the definition of philanthropy must change for it to succeed against the challenges of society at present. Older methods serve their purpose to help solve one problem or two but, ultimately, the world needs more innovative ideas to come to the fore. For philanthropy to succeed against the ills of society at present, more people are called upon to venture into the unknown.

Previously, philanthropy was thought of to be a sort of side-effect to wealth. It was the endeavor of well-meaning and wealthy individuals who sought to help out others by donating to worthy causes. For a time, it helped many less fortunate individuals receive necessary support for things like their basic needs to required funds that empower them to seek a source of livelihood.

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This new type of philanthropy is all about a more hands-on and pro-active approach. It involves a lot of risks and, perhaps, some sacrifices to be made for each venture to produce significant results.

In trying to provide solutions to many of the world’s problems, revolutionary ideas are needed. Continuing to support proven methods are still important but for greater changes to happen, more philanthropists should seek out truly radical innovations that can transform what is considered to be the norm into something that is more sustainable and accessible to more and more people.

Like in investments, the philanthropists of today must seek out areas where there are great risks to find greater returns.

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Find more articles about the challenges of modern philanthropy on this blog site for Alex von Furstenberg.

Stage right, exit: Bowing out of the investment arena

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Save for some, many venture capitalists stay with a business for a long time. From the business’ inception to its growth and flourish, they remain faithful to the company’s goals and endeavors, unwavering in support and presence. The same is true with some investors who have developed some sort of affinity for a particular company. From the initial public offering to the height of a bullish run—even through the bearish times—they remain invested. If they’re lucky enough, this loyalty will eventually pay off, and the company will grow to become a valuable piece of business property that yields a substantial profit.

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But one cannot play the markets forever, and sometimes, even the most loyal investor may want out in a particular investment due to several reasons (e.g., investment objectives have already been met or to mitigate impending failure). In all cases, however, individuals must have an exit strategy at hand before finally bowing out of a particular investment.

Exiting is straightforward for investors who own company shares via publicly traded stocks, as the shares can be easily floated back to the market where many other investors are willing to buy the stocks in their current prices. But for venture capitalists who own shares of private companies, getting out of the investment may not be as easy. In this case, the only exit strategy available for them is the first opportunity to transform their ownership (which is an illiquid asset) into cash (a liquid asset).

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More business-related updates may be found on this Facebook page for Alex von Furstenberg.

Momentum leverage: Exploring the world of opportunistic investing

Most investors are familiar with the investment advice “buy low, sell high”—a strategy that involves buying assets at their lowest prices and selling them later for a much higher price. By doing this, investors can prevent untoward losses and instead profit from their active engagement in the free markets.

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But with the diversity of investment activities, not all investors use this strategy in the same degree as others. Some of the emotional ones tend to exit the market during a bearish run, probably in an attempt to preempt further losses, thus taking full advantage of this advice. On the other hand, some investors stick to this principle and take full advantage of the market momentum whenever it presents itself. This type of investing is called opportunistic investing.

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This investing strategy, adopted by asset management mavens such as Alex von Furstenberg, seeks to yield the highest possible returns by seeking available investment opportunities at any given time regardless of self-imposed limitations or conventional investing algorithms. This is done by searching for potentially lucrative yet underperforming and currently depressed properties and acquiring them via a great deal of borrowed funds—a seeming imbalance which causes other investors to behave irrationally. After a short holding period, opportunistic investors take advantage of this momentum to sell the property at prices which yield at least 20 percent in profit.

Apart from the large yields, opportunistic investors also experience a low degree of volatility, making this approach one of the more stable paths toward investing success.

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Opportunistic investing is Alex von Furstenberg’s claim to fame in this extremely volatile industry. Find out more about his business practices at AlexVonFurstenberg.com.