Wharton Global Family Alliance Announces Support from Leonard Kaplan Family, Wealth & Giving Forum

The Wharton School announced that the Leonard Kaplan Family has joined the Wharton Global Family Alliance (Wharton GFA) as a founding core family and as a new member of the Wharton GFA Advisory Board. In addition, the Wealth & Giving Forum, an organization founded by Leonard Kaplan dedicated to promoting greater and more effective giving among people of means, has teamed with Wharton GFA to actively support the creation of knowledge on wealth allocation and philanthropy among families. Wharton GFA is the first global family consortium of its kind engaged in research, teaching, and outreach for family businesses worldwide.

Wharton GFA provides Core Families with a vantage point to identify and act upon opportunities and challenges. By joining the Wharton GFA as a founding Core Family, the Kaplan Family and the Wealth & Giving Forum hope to extend their efforts effecting positive change in the philanthropic activities of successful families.

“We are excited to partner with the Wharton Global Family Alliance since our mission is to increase levels of giving worldwide and serious scholarship is a most persuasive tool to reach this goal,” said Leonard Kaplan, the family patriarch and founder of Kay Chemical Company and the Wealth and Giving Forum. “The business expertise of Wharton faculty resonates with families engaged in philanthropy since philanthropic, business, and wealth management decisions are all inter-related.”

As a Founding Core family the Kaplan’s will inform the Wharton knowledge base in numerous ways including: offering unique perspectives to the Wharton GFA at Research Council meetings; adding their perspectives to peer discussions at global events; and contributing to the research and curriculum agenda as a potential case study.

“The Leonard Kaplan Family and the Wealth and Giving Forum’s close collaboration with the Wharton Global Family Alliance dramatically increases our capabilities for conducting studies into societal wealth creation and philanthropy,” said Prof. Raffi Amit, who serves as Chairman of the Wharton GFA Executive Committee. “With their pioneering work and extensive relationships in the philanthropic and charitable giving space, the Kaplan Family and the Wealth and Giving Forum will give us rare insights into the topic while expanding our own ‘network of networks.”

Such insights are of great value to the Wharton Global Family Alliance Research Committee, which is comprised of prominent Wharton faculty members including Prof. Raffi Amit and Prof. Ian MacMillan. Prof. MacMillan is leading several research projects involving philanthropy and societal wealth creation, assisted, in part, by the Wealth and Giving Forum.

“Collaborating with the Wharton Global Family Alliance was a natural choice for us,” says Glen Macdonald, President of the Wealth and Giving Forum. “First, we both believe that peer exchange of ideas and practices is a highly effective and yet under-utilized way to educate families about business, wealth management and philanthropy. Moreover, Wharton not only extends our network significantly in the US and abroad, it also provides us with a research and content dissemination platform that is second-to-none.”

For more information on the Wharton GFA, visit http://wgfa.wharton.upenn.edu


About the Wealth & Giving Forum

The Wealth & Giving Forum was founded in 2003 to promote greater generosity among the individuals and families of significant means and to make more resources available for good causes. It i is directed by and for wealth holders who want to discern for themselves and help inspire others about the best way to deploy their resources.

The Wealth & Giving Forum is a unique opportunity for exchange of ideas among families who are dedicated to making intelligent decisions about their philanthropy. It is for experienced donors who seek to accelerate and optimize their own giving. And it is for emerging donors who wish to embark on the noble journey of using their wealth to make a difference.


About the Wharton Global Family Alliance and the Wharton School

The Wharton Global Family Alliance is a unique institution that allows global families to transcend boundaries to collaborate for their mutual benefit and for the betterment of society as a whole. Wharton GFA research is developed in conjunction with families who are actively engaged in primary economic activity and exert significant influence in their arenas of operation.

Formed in collaboration with CCC Alliance, WGFA is a private forum that is designed to foster productive collaboration, learning, and knowledge creation. WGFA is the first global family consortium of its kind, focused on research into, and the sharing of, best practices of globally influential family enterprises

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the United States, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 80,000 worldwide.