20-05-2025
Katherine Lorenz
Being an heir to a billion-dollar fortune certainly has its benefits. Surprisingly, perhaps, it can also come with big challenges, from the intricacies of figuring out how best to carry out a loved one's legacy to the infighting that can sometimes boil over in families when great wealth is passed down. The difficulties and delights of managing a big inheritance are something that Katherine Lorenz, granddaughter of Texas oilman George P. Mitchell, is very familiar with—and dedicated to helping her fellow heirs navigate.
Lorenz is the leader of the Next Gen pack, officially known as the Giving Pledge Next Generation group, the heirs of the ultra-wealthy philanthropists who formally promised to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes in their lifetimes or their wills. Lorenz co-founded the group in 2014 with 24 members. Its ranks have now expanded to 300, ranging in age from 21 to 75, as the press of the challenges they're likely to face becomes more urgent. Dozens of the nearly 250 billionaires who signed the Giving Pledge have died before wrapping up their giving plans. And about 50 of the remaining Pledgers are over age 80.
'Giving away money is easy. Making an impact is hard.'
Lorenz's goal is to provide heirs with resources to help them establish decisionmaking processes, reduce family arguments, and deal with emotionally fraught questions like how strictly they need to adhere to their loved one's giving strategies vs. their own ideas about how and where they can do the most good. Lorenz, who is president of the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, the nonprofit that her grandparents established in 1978, says, 'Is this their foundation? Is it my foundation? Is it our foundation? Who gets to decide what's important? Carrying out someone else's legacy is not easy.'
To help, the Next Gen group offers in-person training sessions, WhatsApp chats, and access to help, such as consultants who can offer advice about ways to divide donation pools that allow disagreeing heirs to fund different charities. Last year, for the first time, the Next Gen group also attended the Giving Pledgers' annual meeting. Such big multigenerational gatherings are helpful, says Lorenz, who previously served as a senior adviser for the National Center for Family Philanthropy and deputy director of the Institute for Philanthropy. 'When you hear from other families what's worked for them or what hasn't worked, you get ideas,' she says.
Lorenz knows firsthand how challenging—and rewarding—inheriting the responsibility for fulfilling a pledge can be. She was steeped in her grandfathers' concerns about improving sustainability—Mitchell made his fortune by pioneering the shale-gas extraction method commonly known as fracking—and leaving a legacy for the greater good. He was deeply concerned n general about energy and environmental conservation. She recalls, 'Every time you saw him, he'd say, 'If you can't make the world work with 4 billion people, how are you going to make it work with 10 billion people? What are you going to do about it?''
Yet she also believes the Next Gen has to figure out how to forge their own giving path. Newbie philanthropists often start out by writing checks to their alma mater, Lorenz says. But as they begin to zero in on what causes they really care about and where their dollars will do the most good, donations often shift to organizations that have a more direct effect on a community, such as food banks, land trusts, or arts groups. 'Giving away money is easy,' says Lorenz. 'Making an impact is hard.'
In addition to helping families increase the size and impact of their donations, Lorenz says her goal is to help heirs turn a legacy from a potentially stressful burden to a joyous activity that brings relatives together—an outcome with benefits beyond the family. She says, 'When you enjoy it more, you give more.'
