Supporting individuals & families
We support ultra-high-net-wealth (UHNW) individuals and families with bold visions for impact, helping them transform wealth into lasting change.
Individuals & families drive more than 66% of philanthropic giving in the United States and have the ability to seed transformative change. Yet giving well has never been more demanding.
The issues people care about feel ever more urgent and many require systems-level interventions. And the individuals and families doing this work are themselves changing—growing across generations, navigating transitions in wealth and leadership, and asking harder questions about what they want their philanthropy to mean and who they want it to involve. Meeting that complexity requires collaboration among expert advisors across multiple domains of wealth management.
ViaNova’s team has partnered with over 200 UHNW individuals and families on philanthropic strategy and implementation. We bring three critical elements to all our engagements: expertise supporting multigenerational families, experience and networks in the social impact sector, and best-in-class services, including comprehensive grants management. We draw on evidence-based strategies and leading research and frameworks from philanthropy, family systems, and enterprise advising.
Our goal is to help clients engage more deeply—with their giving, with changemakers on the ground, and with one another.
We work across complex ecosystems and wealth advisory teams to bring clarity, momentum, and joy to each client’s philanthropic journey.
We believe that ultimately, our clients know what is best for them. We provide the right information, environment, people, and support to help them come to those decisions.
ViaNova offers individuals & families the following services:
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To ease burdens and unlock more time for the most meaningful work, we provide full-service philanthropy management across private foundations, donor-advised funds (DAFs), and other giving vehicles. We can serve as your Executive Director, program officers, operations and compliance teams, or all of the above, shifting our support model to match your evolving needs. This includes:
Systems and workflow design and implementation
Governance, meeting facilitation, and family engagement
Strategic and compliance oversight
Philanthropic vehicle selection and staffing recommendations
Grantmaking strategy and execution
Communications and external representation
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To help our clients move from stressful ambiguity to empowered clarity, we develop and implement tailored strategic plans. This work is especially valuable during moments of transition—wealth events, evolving priorities, new generations engaging in family philanthropy—when decisions become more complex and consequential and where learning and coordination can feel overwhelming. This includes:
Strategic planning and refinement
Facilitated learning and decision-making within family contexts
Coordination with wealth and other managers on integrating services
Training and capacity-building
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To give our clients confidence in their philanthropy, we identify high-impact opportunities and define focused portfolios—from grants to impact investments to catalytic major gifts. Drawing on our deep networks across the philanthropic sector, we connect our clients with organizations and initiatives capable of delivering meaningful change. We support learning, evaluation, and collaboration with funder and nonprofit partners to drive impact and donor engagement. This includes:
Grant sourcing, diligence, execution, and reporting
Investment sourcing, diligence, execution, and reporting
Connections to issue and investment experts
Site visits
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Given our expertise and the scale of our work, we are a go-to partner to wealth management firms, family offices, and family wealth networks that are seeking to build their credibility in philanthropy, strengthen and expand their service offerings, and bring best-in-class guidance to serve their UHNW clients. We help these partners to build their own capacity and we share insights and best practices to advance the field. This includes:
Thought leadership and curating client events
Ghostwriting and other outsourced communications
Customized training and capacity-building
Related thinking
