PARTNERS IN PHILANTHROPY
A Grandmother’s Gift Empowering a new generation of nature champions
As a young girl growing up on a farm in Arkansas, Claire Anderson has always been drawn to the outdoors. “I had all kinds of close-to-the-land adventures on the farm,” recalls Anderson. Now a grandmother of ten, she’s looking to her family’s next generation to help guide her philanthropic decisions. In 2017, Claire set up a donor-advised fund through The Nature Conservancy and appointed her oldest grandchildren to its board of directors. A donor- advised fund is a professionally managed account that allows you to build your family’s charitable legacy while giving you the flexibility to recommend how and when to make distributions from the fund. “I’ve always been impressed by TNC and the way they bring together different entities to cooperate on projects,” says Anderson. “That
requires creative thinking and active relationship-building, rare commodities these days. I wanted to support that.” She describes this experience with her grandchildren as being “such a trip,” saying that it allows them to talk about the planet and “big money,” while actively searching for ways they can make an impact. Her grandchildren agree. Lucy, age 13, Catherine, age 17, says being a member of the board is an amazing opportunity. “I don’t know anyone else my age who can have such a great impact in the endeavor to protect our planet,” she says. For Anya, age 11, being on the board means she can have a say in what says she’s happiest when she’s outdoors and that helping her grandma is “pretty special.”
causes they support. “I’ve read articles about the amount of trash thrown away and how our reefs are dying,” she says. “It makes me want to take action and I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to do so.” Catherine says when it comes to making decisions, they all submit input and come to a consensus. Andrew, age 15, likes choosing projects that seem most effective in helping the world and says this experience gives him an awareness of the struggles the world is going through and what he can do to help. Claire hopes her grandchildren will stay on the board through college and that the younger children will join as they grow up. With the youngest grandchild at 3 years old, Claire says the board has room to continue helping for decades to come.
“Love is both a noun and a verb,” says Anderson. “Loving our Earth is one thing but uniting the generations to give thought and funds toward bettering it…is quite another.”
10 MISSOURI: ACTION AND IMPACT
THIS PAGE left to right Catherine, Andrew, Lucy and Anya. © Courtesy of Claire Anderson
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