Philanthropists train their children to continue the giving

America’s and Atlanta’s top philanthropists are getting their children involved early in giving, sometimes before they turn 10 years old.

Givers are also turning to professionals, such as lawyers, accountants and organizations such as The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, for help in directing their giving, according to a yearly survey released earlier this week by Bank of America and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The bank offers seminars for top philanthropic families, engaging all the members in training in where and how to best support their favorite charities.

“We’ve conducted four workshops since June,” said Quanda Allen, the bank’s senior philanthropic manager in Atlanta. “That’s higher than other parts of the U.S.”

One large family that the bank declined to name held two workshops in recent months just for their children ages 9 to 24.

“They wanted to be sure their values were being passed down to the next generations,” Allen said.

The report noted that family and religious institutions were the top influences in giving.

Those who give are also demanding more accountability and transparency from organizations they support and often take a more active role in the organizations, such as visiting the charitable work here or abroad, the survey noted.

Giving by well-off philanthropists is expected to increase in coming years because so many baby boomers are nearing retirement or are dying and passing accumulated wealth on to organizations or their children.

“We are at the front end of the largest transfer of wealth in history,” said Claire Costello, a national executive in philanthropic management for Bank of America.

“There’s a mainstreaming of philanthropy. It’s not reserved for the aristocracy. There are opportunities to get involved at all levels.”