The Nelson Family Legacy
When The Next Generation Leads: The Nelson Family Legacy
As the next generation of a long-standing family fund, the grandchildren of Dick and Judy Nelson are exploring their own passion for philanthropy and finding that their voice has become an essential part of their family’s legacy of giving.
The path to authentic multi-generational philanthropy can take time, as it did for the Nelson family. Nearly 30 years ago, Dick Nelson established the family’s fund with the Community Foundation. Then, about a decade ago, Dick and his wife Judy asked the Foundation to facilitate a family meeting so their teenaged grandchildren could share their own ideas about which local issues resonated with them.
The grandchildren expressed an interest in a variety of topics, including the arts, children’s cancer and drug and alcohol abuse prevention. This meeting represented the next chapter of Dick and Judy’s philanthropy – a richer, fuller giving experience designed to pass from generation to generation.
Today, the grandchildren who participated in that meeting are now young adults, building careers and families of their own and taking the lead. However, back in 2020, while they participated in their family’s annual grantmaking meetings, they often took a passive role, deferring instead to their parents and grandparents.
Jennifer Easter, one of the Nelsons’ daughters, noticed this pattern and grew concerned. She feared that without changing how things had always been done, the grandchildren might lose interest and the fund would not continue as her parents had intended.
Looking for guidance and ideas, Jennifer sought help from their Philanthropic Advisor at the Foundation, Sarah Arenstein Levy.
“I didn't see a path forward for them taking the fund over one day,” Jennifer recalled. “So Sarah and I got together and brainstormed different ways to really give them a seat at the table.”
Sarah, a 21/64 Certified Advisor in multi-generational family philanthropy, suggested a way the grandparents, Jennifer’s sister, and Jennifer herself would take an intentional step back to empower the next generation to bring their own funding ideas to the table.
“When we work with families interested in engaging the next generation in philanthropy, it’s important that we discuss their unique needs, backgrounds, situations, and areas of giving,” Sarah said. “Having developed a relationship with Jennifer and the Nelson family and understanding their specific circumstances, we were able to develop an individualized approach that would honor the previous generation while also empowering the grandchildren.”
They also established other changes to further improve the process.
Beginning in 2021, they began the funding discussions much earlier, working around schedules to ensure the grandchildren had time to develop ideas for the next family meeting.
Years prior, when Jennifer had been in charge of the fund, her father, mother, and sister had established a set of guiding principles to keep the intent of the fund alive. Now, as Sarah spoke with each grandchild individually, she was able to help them articulate their interests within the scope of those guiding principals.
But there was still a challenge: the grandchildren’s continued deference.
“They were still very quiet,” Jennifer said, remembering back. “If my dad said anything, everyone on the call would defer to him,” Jennifer shared, “And so he literally had to join the calls but remain silent because just a few words would unintentionally influence the conversation. He, my sister, my mom and I had to be quiet and encourage the grandchildren to talk amongst themselves.”
The solution wasn’t an easy one, but it was a critical step to ensure the engagement of the next generation and the continued health of the family’s fund.
“For those of us that have managed it, created it, been a part of it,” Jennifer said, “if you're truly passionate about passing it down to the next generation and you want it to be successful, you really have to step out.”
Since then, Jennifer has stepped back from managing the fund, instead inviting each grandchild to rotate being in the role every two years. Her son has almost completed his second year as the fund’s manager. These days, the grandchildren are also the only members of the family who present ideas. In fact, as Jennifer tells it, their suggestions have become so well-reasoned and convincing that the family was able to make funding decisions for this year and next year on the same call.
Previously, the decision-making process was time-consuming, involving multiple phone calls and emails. Now, as the family has worked to accommodate the busy schedules of their adult grandchildren, they’ve improved the process.
“The next generation is busy,” Jennifer said. “They've got challenging jobs, they've got children. So we had to figure out how to streamline. Now we do it all in a one hour call. When we are on the call, they present, and the family votes. It’s pretty efficient.”
Sarah from the Community Foundation typically works behind the scenes with each of the grandkids to help them figure out what they want to present and coaches them on the process. These days, they have become so adept at presenting that Sarah’s outreach now is all through email.
The Nelson family’s approach to engaging the next generation in philanthropic giving has proven successful, which is good news for a family that continues to grow.
There are four grandchildren actively involved, one who is just starting, and another who will participate once they turn 18. Additionally, there are seven great-grandchildren, with another on the way. But even these young children have been considered in the family’s plan to ensure the inter-generational legacy of their fund.
Jennifer suggests all families engaged in this type of giving should make sure to introduce their children early on to the real-world impact their family’s philanthropy has had.
“When you have younger kids who can’t participate, take them to the places where you’ve donated for them to actually see the impact of the family’s donation,” she said. “It’s good for them to know that the family’s dollars went to help create something that is benefiting the community.”
Judy Nelson passed away in 2024, but her legacy lives on. Dick (now in his 80s) continues to volunteer with local organizations like Meals on Wheels and the grandchildren are taking on the responsibility of guiding the Nelson Family Fund into the future. Jennifer is excited about how this evolution, which began with a simple meeting hosted by the Community Foundation about a decade ago and was built upon with Sarah’s expertise in family philanthropy, has set the stage for successful and impactful intergenerational giving to support causes right here in Richmond.
“It has taken years for our kids to learn how philanthropy works and to recognize the value of our family’s giving over time, but it happened organically at their own pace,” she said. “My father is so glad that we started this process when we did, to see the next generation forming their own relationship with the Community Foundation, and to know that the fund will be in good hands well into the future.”