“Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.”

— Wayne Dyer

When I returned to Philadelphia in 1992 after graduating college and traveling internationally, I knew I wanted to come home to “make a difference.” My first job at Leadership Philadelphia introduced me to the concept of board service and I wanted to practice what we preached. As I began exploring board opportunities that were aligned with my values, I was drawn to organizations that transformed one person’s abundance into another’s good fortune. If perfectly good food was destined for waste while others went hungry, why not connect the two? If farmers’ markets overflowed with fresh produce, why not also teach communities about nutrition, healthy food preparation, and how to grow their own harvest?

At the time, I discovered two organizations operating from different abundance philosophies. Philabundance embodied “share the harvest” by redirecting surplus food to feed those in need. The Farmers Market Trust took a different approach by bringing farmers markets to underserved neighborhoods to make fresh produce accessible, then expanding to include nutrition education at the markets and in schools. Both organizations saw resource coordination challenges, not scarcity problems. The abundance already existed in our food system; it simply needed better distribution to flow from where it was plentiful to where it was needed, creating value for farmers, communities, and the environment alike.

This realization crystallized something that I continue to experience in my current work with philanthropic families: the transformative power of shifting from scarcity thinking to abundance mindset. Just as food rescue organizations see their resources as catalysts for better coordination between farmers, retailers, and communities, philanthropic families can view their wealth not as limited pots of money competing for causes, but as tools for creating better systems and resource flows across entire communities.

Research shows that an abundance mindset, the belief that there are ample resources for everyone, fosters feelings of optimism, opportunity, and collaboration. Yet in philanthropy, we often operate from scarcity: limited funding competing for urgent causes, families afraid to give “too much”, and organizations fighting over the same donor dollars.

What I’m Reading: Mindset and Meaningful Giving

Two books have been reshaping how I think about abundance in philanthropic work. Alex Johnston’s “Money with Meaning: How to Create Joy and Impact through Philanthropy” offers a practical roadmap for donors to move beyond good intentions toward what he calls “meaningful giving”—where donor satisfaction and social impact meet. Through his framework of Getting Visionary, Getting Real, Getting Together, and Getting Better, Johnston demonstrates how abundance thinking transforms philanthropy from obligation into joy.

Meanwhile, Carol Dweck’s foundational research in “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” demonstrates how believing our capacities can be developed rather than viewing them as fixed traits fundamentally changes how we approach challenges and collaborate with others.

This growth mindset insight is revolutionary for philanthropy. Instead of families feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of problems they can’t possibly solve alone, abundance thinking reframes the question: How can we use our resources to unlock innovation, collaboration, and systemic solutions that benefit everyone?

One family I work with exemplifies this shift. Rather than dividing their giving among competing civic organizations, they are supporting an ecosystem that brings together power building activists, policy experts, and community leaders. Their abundance mindset, believing there’s enough wisdom, creativity, and resources to build engaged and thriving communities when properly coordinated, has catalyzed partnerships that individual grants never could.

What I’m Learning: The Psychology of Abundance

The modern Hebrew concept of firgun (taking genuine, unselfish joy in others’ success) beautifully captures what abundance thinking looks like in practice. I learned about this concept during the high holy days, and it has stayed with me as a powerful frame for philanthropic work. When we truly believe there’s enough for everyone, we can celebrate other funders’ achievements, share our insights freely, and collaborate without fear of losing credit or recognition. This stands in stark contrast to scarcity thinking, which views every other funder’s success as diminishing our own impact.

In practice, abundance mindset means we’re more likely to:

• Seek win-win solutions rather than zero-sum outcomes
• Invest in long-term systemic change rather than short-term fixes
• Collaborate with others rather than compete for recognition
• Take creative risks that could benefit entire communities
• View failure as learning rather than resource waste

In family philanthropy, this translates into more innovative grantmaking, deeper partnerships with community organizations, and willingness to fund unproven but promising solutions, sometimes together.

The 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy reveals compelling evidence of values-driven giving. Among affluent donors, 68% are now guided by personal values when choosing causes to support. Yet the study also highlights a critical gap: only 13% of affluent households involve their children, grandchildren, or younger relatives in charitable decision-making, even as they plan to leave 75% of their estates to these same family members. This represents both a missed opportunity and an urgent call to action for values transmission across generations. When families embrace abundance thinking together, they don’t just transfer wealth—they cultivate a shared legacy of impact.

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

– Winston Churchill

What I’m Witnessing: Abundance in Action

The families I work with demonstrate that abundance thinking creates abundance reality. When one foundation shifted from funding individual programs to supporting collaborative networks, their impact multiplied exponentially. Another family offered wellness grants to their nonprofit partners, ensuring grantee staff teams could prioritize self-care. They then compiled the wellness resources each organization identified and shared them with all their other grantees. This “abundance of care” approach strengthened the entire ecosystem of organizations they support. These families show us that abundance isn’t just a mindset—it’s a practice that creates ripple effects far beyond individual grants.

What I’m Wondering: Your Abundance Journey

As we navigate this extraordinary moment of wealth concentration and global chall  enges, I find myself wondering:

• What would your philanthropic strategy look like if you truly believed there were enough resources to solve the problems you care about?
• How might cultivating abundance thinking across generations transform not just what you give, but how your family experiences the joy of giving together?

Gratitude for what we have creates space for generous sharing. In family philanthropy, understanding “enough” isn’t about limitation, it’s about liberation. When we know we have enough, everything beyond becomes an opportunity for joyful abundance shared with our communities.