A wave of social good is swelling among the world’s family offices as the next generation of leaders declare they are building upon their family’s commitment to sustainable and impact investing.
The new Global Family Office Report 2018 by Campden Research with UBS found a significant 39% of family office principals surveyed said their next generation will increase allocations to impact and environmental, social and governmental (ESG) investing.
One-third (32%) of families were already involved in impact investing, an increase of 4.2 percentage points over the previous year. Families gave an average of $5 million to philanthropic causes in the past year, with almost 70% now running their own charitable foundations.
A total of 70% of family offices expected a generational transfer in the next 10 to 15 years. Next-generation family members were taking a more active role within the family office, indicating the handover was beginning to take place.
Among the next generation of family members, three in 10 (29%) family offices now held management or executive roles, while 23% sit on the board.
However, half of all family offices did not have a succession plan in place. Indeed, there was only one percentage point increase in succession plans since UBS and Campden Wealth warned of the problem last year.
Sara Ferrari, head of global family office group at UBS, said: “The next generation are clearly influencing family office direction and investment strategy, particularly on questions of sustainability and impact. But all too often, the underlying issue is not being addressed. Families need to be much more proactive in tackling the issue of succession.”
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