Philanthropy Is Not Only About Giving Money

It Can Be the Training Ground for the Next Generation of Gulf Families
Opinion Article for Publication
By Dr. Mohamed Al-Bassem — Management, Organizational Development & Leadership Consultant
Imagine a successful Gulf family that has spent forty years building its wealth.
The founder began with one shop, one contract, or one bold idea. Then came expansion. Real estate. Trading. Investments. Companies. Perhaps a family office.
Eventually, the family begins asking an important question: How much should we give?
Which causes deserve support? Education? Healthcare? Youth? Poverty? Entrepreneurship?
These are important questions.
But there is another question that may be even more important:
Who will our children become while they are learning to give?
Because philanthropy can do something much bigger than distribute money.
It can develop judgment. It can expose young family members to society beyond the walls of privilege. It can teach them how to investigate problems, listen to communities, evaluate organizations, allocate scarce resources, measure outcomes, sit on committees, defend decisions, disagree respectfully, and accept accountability.
In other words:
Philanthropy can become a leadership academy disguised as giving.
And for Gulf and Middle Eastern families facing one of the largest generational transitions in their history, that possibility deserves serious attention.
So perhaps the next generation does not merely need an inheritance.
Perhaps it needs preparation for inheritance.
The Old Question Was: “What Will We Leave Our Children?”
The better question is:
“Who will our children become before we leave it to them?”
There is an enormous difference between transferring wealth and transferring stewardship.
You can transfer shares with signatures. You can transfer property with documents. You can transfer money with a bank instruction.
But you cannot transfer wisdom by wire transfer.
A young person may inherit a seat at the table without having developed the judgment required to sit there. He may inherit voting rights before learning how to evaluate competing priorities. She may inherit capital before experiencing the responsibility of allocating capital. They may inherit the family name without understanding what that name is supposed to stand for.
This is where philanthropy becomes strategically interesting.
Instead of seeing the family’s philanthropic activity merely as a destination for money, we can also see it as a development environment for the family itself.
Philanthropy stops being: How much did we donate?
And becomes:
What social value did we create—and what kind of family did the process create?
From the Mu’addib to the Family Development Council
This idea is not as foreign to the region as it might initially sound.
For centuries, Muslim courts and elite households understood something fundamental:
A future leader should not simply inherit authority. He must be formed for it.
Historical Islamic education included the role of the mu’addib—a tutor or educator associated with cultivating adab: learning, conduct, discipline, language, manners, and the qualities expected of someone entering positions of responsibility.
The historical arrangements varied considerably across periods, dynasties, courts, and families, so it would be misleading to describe one universal system for all caliphs, sultans, or merchants.
But the underlying principle remains powerful:
Privilege created a responsibility to prepare the person who would carry it.
The child was not merely being taught information.
He was being prepared for a role.
And perhaps modern families need to recover the principle—not copy the historical institution.
Today’s mu’addib does not need to be one man sitting beside the heir teaching poetry, history, and courtly conduct.
The modern equivalent could be an ecosystem:
A mentor. An executive coach. A university. A family council. A family office. A philanthropic foundation. A business rotation. An international assignment. A social-impact project. A board observer position.
And, perhaps most importantly, exposure to people whose lives look nothing like his own.
The ancient question was:
How do we educate the future ruler?
The modern family-business question is:
How do we develop the future steward?
Do Not Give Every Child the Same Map
One of the easiest mistakes wealthy families can make is to confuse fairness with sameness.
Three children can share the same surname, parents, opportunities, and inheritance—and possess completely different talents.
One may be commercially aggressive. Another intellectually curious. A third deeply interested in social development. A fourth may be an excellent investor but a terrible operator. Another may have no desire to enter the family business at all.
Trying to manufacture identical successors is like buying five different vehicles and insisting that they all drive the same terrain.
The family needs common values—but not identical careers.
This is where I would propose what we might call an internal Family Development Compass.
Before deciding who gets which title, the family should understand who is actually sitting around the table.
Not: “Who is the eldest?”
But: Who has the aptitude?
Not: “Who needs a job?”
But: Who can create value?
Not: “Where did his brother study?”
But: What developmental experience does this individual need?
One child may need a scholarship abroad. Another needs three years inside the operating business. Another should work outside the family business first. Another may benefit from living and working alongside a social enterprise. Another should spend time with entrepreneurs. Another should learn investment analysis. Another may be suited to philanthropy, education, culture, medicine, research, public policy, or the arts.
And there may be a family member for whom the wisest decision is:
Do not put them in the business at all.
That is not rejection.
That can be excellent governance.
Build a Family Constitution Before You Build Job Titles
The family constitution is one of the most valuable tools available to business-owning families.
Not because a document can prevent every conflict. It cannot.
But because unwritten expectations become dangerous when wealth, marriage, generations, ownership, employment, and emotion collide.
That is where a constitution becomes more than a legal-looking document.
It becomes a development contract between generations.
It can answer questions such as:
What does our family stand for? What responsibilities accompany ownership? Can any family member automatically work in the company? What qualifications are required? Should family members gain outside experience first? How are education and development funded? How do we select future board members? How do we deal with failure?
And critically:
What is wealth for?
If the family cannot answer that question, eventually each generation will answer it independently.
Then Build the Giving Compass
A family may have a constitution and still give chaotically.
One member supports scholarships. Another receives requests through personal relationships. Someone funds medical cases. Another supports entrepreneurship. Another wants international causes.
Everyone is generous.
But generosity without direction can become fragmented.
So after the family constitution should come what I call the Family Giving Compass.
It answers four deceptively simple questions:
Why do we give?
Where do we give?
How do we decide?
How do we know whether it worked?
The Giving Compass can simultaneously become a Development Compass.
Give the Next Generation a Budget Before Giving Them the Kingdom
Imagine a 22-year-old member of a wealthy family.
Instead of giving him a ceremonial title at the family foundation, give him something harder:
A problem.
Suppose the family allocates a controlled philanthropic budget to a NextGen committee.
Their assignment:
Improve employment outcomes for 100 young people.
Now the younger family members must work.
They must understand the problem. Meet beneficiaries. Study organizations. Compare proposals. Read budgets. Identify risks. Ask uncomfortable questions. Decide what not to fund. Present recommendations. Defend their choices. Monitor implementation. Measure outcomes.
Then return to the family council and explain:
“This is what we did with the family’s money. This is what worked. This is what failed. This is what we learned.”
What have you actually built?
Not merely a charitable project.
You have built a miniature version of capital allocation, due diligence, governance, strategy, stakeholder management, financial literacy, negotiation, measurement, empathy, and accountability.
That 22-year-old is learning skills that may later be used to evaluate a multimillion-dollar investment.
The difference is that his first classroom was not a boardroom.
It was society.
The Scholarship Should Not Be a Reward
Another mistake is treating education funding as an entitlement.
“My father studied in London, so I will study in London.”
“My sister completed an MBA, so I need one too.”
No.
A serious family development system asks:
What developmental gap are we trying to close?
If a young family member demonstrates academic strength, curiosity, discipline, and a clear trajectory, international study may be an excellent investment.
Support it.
But attach development to it.
Not control.
Development.
Give the person a mentor. Set learning objectives. Ask for exposure beyond the classroom. Encourage internships. Require serious reflection on what knowledge should return to the family enterprise or community.
The family should not fund prestige.
It should fund transformation.
Sometimes the Best University Is a Warehouse
Now imagine another son.
He hates classrooms.
But put him inside a shop and he comes alive.
He understands customers. He negotiates naturally. He notices margin. He remembers prices. He enjoys the rhythm of trade.
Why force him through the developmental route designed for his academically oriented sibling?
Send him into commerce.
But do not immediately make him CEO of the family company.
Let him work. Let him sell. Let him deal with inventory. Let him understand cash flow. Let him meet an angry customer. Let him negotiate with suppliers.
Perhaps let him work outside the family group, where the surname cannot rescue him.
Do not give him the corner office before he understands the loading dock.
The goal is not humiliation.
The goal is reality.
And Sometimes the Child Needs a Journey, Not a Degree
There is another developmental tool that Gulf families can use more intentionally:
Structured immersion.
A young family member interested in agriculture could spend time with farmers and agribusiness operators.
Someone interested in hospitality could rotate through hotels from operations upward.
Someone interested in social development could work alongside a credible nonprofit or social enterprise.
Someone expected to understand emerging markets might benefit from supervised professional exposure in a different country and culture.
Someone interested in entrepreneurship could spend time with founders who do not have family capital behind them.
The purpose is not poverty tourism.
It is not to send privileged young people somewhere for photographs.
It is to create contact with consequences.
To see how decisions affect people. To understand how money is earned. To discover how institutions actually function. To learn that a spreadsheet cell sometimes represents a family, an employee, a patient, a student, or an entrepreneur.
That is education no lecture can fully reproduce.
Philanthropy Can Reveal the Child Before the Business Tests the Adult
This may be philanthropy’s hidden advantage.
It creates a relatively controlled environment in which the family can observe the next generation.
Give five young family members the same social-impact challenge.
Watch.
Who asks intelligent questions? Who arrives prepared? Who listens? Who only wants photographs? Who understands numbers? Who empathizes but cannot decide? Who makes decisions but ignores people? Who can build coalitions? Who becomes defensive when challenged? Who admits, “I was wrong”? Who follows through after the excitement disappears?
You are not merely evaluating a philanthropic committee.
You are watching future owners emerge.
And that information is priceless.
Because it is much better to discover that someone lacks discipline while managing a modest philanthropic pilot than after giving them responsibility for a major operating company.
The New Mu’addib Is Not a Person. It Is a System.
This is perhaps the bridge between the old world and the new.
Historically, elite families understood the need to deliberately form the next generation for responsibility.
Modern families need the same principle—but with contemporary institutions.
The new mu’addib could be a system composed of family values, a family constitution, individual assessments, mentors, coaches, education, business rotations, external employment, philanthropic responsibility, social immersion, investment committees, family councils, and periodic reviews.
Its job is not to produce obedient heirs.
Its job is to produce capable stewards.
There is an important distinction.
An heir receives.
A steward protects, develops, questions, allocates, and eventually passes forward.
From Family Tree to Family Talent Portfolio
Perhaps families should stop looking only at their family tree and start building a Family Talent Portfolio.
Every next-generation member could have a confidential development profile built around five dimensions:
Character: What values and behaviors does this person consistently demonstrate?
Capability: What can they actually do?
Curiosity: What naturally attracts their attention and energy?
Contribution: Where could they create value for business, family, or society?
Development: What experience should come next?
Then the family can make better decisions.
Not every child receives the same program.
One receives an academic pathway. One receives an entrepreneurship pathway. One receives a professional-management pathway. One receives an investment pathway. One receives a social-impact pathway. One may combine several.
And these pathways should not become permanent labels. People develop, interests change, and assessments can be wrong.
The compass should guide.
It should not imprison.
Philanthropy Should Develop the Giver Too
Do not wait until the next generation inherits the foundation.
Bring them into the thinking now.
Let the 16-year-old observe.
Let the 18-year-old research.
Let the university student participate.
Let the young professional manage a pilot under supervision.
Let the more experienced member chair a committee.
Development should move progressively:
Observe → Participate → Recommend → Decide → Lead → Mentor.
That is how responsibility grows.
Not overnight.
Layer by layer.
The Ultimate Family ROI
Families are trained to think about return on investment.
But perhaps there is another ROI:
Return on Identity.
After twenty years of philanthropy, what happened to the family itself?
Did the cousins become closer or more fragmented? Did the children learn responsibility or entitlement? Did they understand society better? Did they learn how to make decisions together? Did they discover their individual strengths? Did they build a shared language around wealth? Did they learn that ownership is not merely a right—but a duty?
Did the family name become associated only with wealth…
or also with usefulness?
That may be the most valuable outcome of all.
Because the greatest threat to family wealth is not always a bad investment.
Sometimes it is an unprepared generation.
And the greatest protection is not merely a trust, holding company, shareholder agreement, or family office.
Those structures matter enormously.
But behind every structure eventually sits a human being making a decision.
So develop the human being.
Before You Transfer the Wealth, Transfer the Compass
The Gulf and Middle East already possess deep traditions of giving: zakat, sadaqah, waqf, family support, community responsibility, and private generosity.
Modern philanthropy does not need to erase those traditions.
It can build on them.
But the next chapter can go further.
From charity to strategy.
From donations to measurable impact.
From individual generosity to governance.
From succession to stewardship.
And from educating heirs merely to inherit wealth…
to developing human beings capable of carrying its responsibility.
A family constitution can tell the next generation:
This is who we are.
A Giving Compass can tell them:
This is why and how we contribute.
A Development Compass can tell each member:
This may be your next journey.
And philanthropy can give them somewhere to practice all three.
Perhaps this is the modern version of an ancient idea.
The mu’addib once helped prepare young people for responsibility through knowledge, discipline, and adab.
The twenty-first-century family needs an entire developmental architecture to do the same.
Because eventually every founder discovers the same uncomfortable truth:
You can leave your children money.
You can leave them companies.
You can leave them property.
But unless you deliberately develop their judgment, character, and sense of responsibility, you cannot guarantee that you have left them a future.
So before asking:
“How much will our children inherit?”
Perhaps every successful family should ask a harder question:
“Who are we developing them to become?”
That may be philanthropy’s greatest gift to the Middle East.
Not only better giving.
Not only stronger communities.
But a generation of owners, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists who understand that wealth is not merely something they received.
It is something they were prepared to carry.
References
• Circle MENA, Understanding Next-Generation Philanthropy in the Middle East.
• Strategy&, From Traditional to Impact Philanthropy: Creating a Legacy for GCC Family Businesses.
• Strategy&, Family Enterprises: The Path to Institutionalization.
• PwC Middle East, NextGen Survey 2024.