Well-placed trust and a focus on your values, purpose and passions can help maximize your philanthropic impact.

Every contribution helps when it comes to charity. But some donors are in a position to make a uniquely forceful impact, whether through visionary board leadership, robust networking skills or the funding of generous gifts.

Taking an outsize role in advancing a cherished cause is a powerful feeling. But it also feels like it comes with high stakes — and that can cause would-be philanthropists, even experienced ones, to hesitate. How do you vet potential grantees and donees? How do you measure your impact over time? And where do you even begin with the maze of potential charitable structures?

Daunted, some people end up limiting themselves to perfunctory gifts. Others shy away entirely.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, says philanthropic advisor Jen Holleran. Through her group, Holleran Impact Advisors, she guides a range of clients, from those just starting their giving to those eager to expand their charitable efforts. She’s worked with dozens of donors at different stages, including some notable donors such as Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. She’s well acquainted with how unexpectedly challenging it can feel to start giving.

“There are a lot of barriers to giving,” she says, but “they often don’t need to be barriers.”

Values, purpose and passion form the core of why you’re giving. Let them guide you.

When Holleran advises novice donors, she starts with the basics: What do you value? Why do you want to give?

Perhaps because it’s so elemental, a surprising number of people skip this step. However, Holleran stresses that it’s essential. Clarity of purpose focuses your efforts on projects that will truly engage you, helping stave off indecision and burnout.

Philanthropic work can be demanding, and budding philanthropists face many legitimate obligations competing for their time and attention. They “need to be able to say, ‘This is something I find purpose in. I want to have an impact.’”

To that end, Holleran asks all prospective donors to describe their values. What’s important to you and what do you want to leave behind? That discussion usually touches on personal experiences of success and adversity — which, she says, are often our strongest inspirations to do good.

“Some might recognize the way education positioned them for a career and want to provide that opportunity to others,” she says. “Others might recall something like a medical challenge that, despite their resources, they or their family struggled to find services for. What about families without those resources?”

Don’t let common-sense questions become insurmountable barriers.

In many ways, effective giving resembles successful investing. With valuable resources on the line, natural impulses can tend toward caution — and that can easily lead to missed opportunities if taken too far.

That concern isn’t theoretical. Forbes reported that more than $250 billion was held in donor-advised funds (DAFs) last year — money that was pledged to good work and can’t be reclaimed by donors, but that hasn’t been spent. Not all of that money is “stranded,” but a lot of it is waiting for the donors to decide on a direction to take it.

Oftentimes, donors hesitate to fully take the plunge because of sensible concerns. They want to know they’re giving to responsible charitable organizations that will do good work. Donors also want to ensure that a nonprofit has the scale and ability to use a large gift effectively. There is no perfect starting point, and every donor journey is different. Getting started is how you learn and grow.

One way to satisfy these concerns is to take cues from others in the nonprofit world, Holleran says. Several research groups rate charitable organizations, while prominent foundations have dedicated teams that review prospective grantees. A new donor can learn from their choices.

As an example, “You can watch someone like Mackenzie Scott, who has support to do deep research. Once she chooses a grantee, she gives generously and with broad latitude,” Holleran adds. Some people choose to give through intermediaries. These organizations, led by field leaders, regrant to a portfolio of carefully vetted nonprofits. They also help donors learn about the field.

“It’s very much what the investing world does,” Holleran adds. “You choose a fund manager who you trust. You don’t have to do all the diligence yourself.”

Your Private Wealth Advisor can offer guidance.

You already have one significant leg up as you develop a charitable plan — your Private Wealth Advisor and their teams.

“When it comes to the mechanics of making a plan, financial advisors are really valuable,” Holleran says. “They have more visibility into your finances than anyone else. They can bring up the topic of giving with you as part of regular check-ins, asking you what your plans are for giving, now or in the future. They know what your overall wealth picture is and can suggest a giving budget. They can even connect you to specialists in giving or the areas you care about deeply.”

Very often, investors underestimate how much latitude they have to give. Your Private Wealth Advisor can help you identify a charitable budget and begin laying the groundwork to more effectively give.

Similarly, they’re well-positioned to help you understand the various vehicles for charitable giving. Trusts, DAFs and family foundations are complex structures with their own strengths and requirements, which can make them challenging to navigate without guidance.

“There are so many ways to give,” Holleran says. “Surrounding yourself with and relying on people you trust can make many barriers surmountable.”