A New Vision for the
Dawson Family

Following a brief stint as a computer sciences professor at a Boston-area university, Kevin Dawson started his own data analytics company in Greenwich, Connecticut. Ten years later, the business had grown considerably, and several private equity firms convinced Kevin to sell most of his business to them. His wealth was now in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

Kevin and his wife Christy were caught off guard by their sudden wealth. They didn't come from money – their parents were solidly middle-class white-collar professionals who valued education, personal responsibility, and family life.

 

Kevin and Christy lived their parents' values. They both attended top-notch universities and, following graduation, got married, started a family, and worked hard to get to where they are now. They were happy and enjoying their lives with their 16-year-old twin boys. 

 

Kevin's enormous financial successes put the family on a different path than his parents'. The Dawsons bought a beautiful estate in Greenwich. Their boys were enrolled in Connecticut's most prestigious private school and beginning to consider college. Christy was succeeding in a business she had started two years earlier.

 

Everyone in the family seemed to be in a good place, but something bothered Kevin. He worried about how the wealth he had created would affect the boys. Talking to friends and colleagues who were also wealthy, he realized he wasn't alone in his concerns.

 

Kevin and Christy agreed they needed to help the boys find their paths in life without the money destroying their will to pursue what they wanted for themselves. Like many of their friends, they believed it might be best to give their fortune to charity rather than risk the adverse effects that inheriting substantial wealth might have on the boys.

 

The Dawsons arranged a meeting with their family attorney to discuss this idea. Christy asked their attorney what he thought about setting up a foundation so they could give most of their money away rather than bequeathing it to their sons. She told him they wanted to provide some money for the boys, but not enough that they could afford to do nothing with their lives.

 

Their attorney responded that families of wealth have a great privilege and responsibility to use their resources to make the world a better place. He said that families of substantial wealth rarely spend all they have created or inherited.

 

Their attorney asked whether they had ever thought of their wealth as being a force for good for their sons. They said no. All they could think about was how dangerous it might be for their sons to be given so much money. He asked them what they wanted most for their boys.

 

They said they wanted their boys to be happy and to have meaningful and productive careers. Their attorney asked them what yardstick they believed accurately measured success. The Dawsons said doing something that made you happy and fulfilled was a better measure of success than simply making money.

 

The Dawson's attorney wanted to know whether they thought having enough money to do what you wished was important. They nodded and said money certainly made it easier to do some things in life. But they didn't want their money to rob the boys of their ambitions.

 

Their attorney asked how they would feel if the boys wanted to pursue careers in social work or the nonprofit sector. Kevin and Christy stated they didn't care how much money the boys made as long as their work was important to them.

 

He asked them how they felt about the boys' inability to do things they'd always enjoyed doing as a family, like skiing in the Alps every other winter. He explained the obvious. As social workers or nonprofit administrators, the boys wouldn't be able to afford such vacations. If Kevin and Christy opted to give all their money to charity, how would their sons continue to enjoy the quality of life they were accustomed to?

 

Before the Dawsons could answer, their attorney introduced the thought that money itself wasn't destructive should they choose to share their vast wealth with the boys. He said they would need to educate their sons on how to interact with their wealth well to avert a sense of entitlement. The attorney also emphasized the importance of clarifying for the boys what the family stood for and how this money could be used to perpetuate the family legacy through them and their families.

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The Clariata Team Helps Create 'A Vision of Fulfillment'

 

The Dawsons' attorney introduced them to Clariata. The process showed the Dawsons how their wealth could be used to pursue what mattered most to them. The Dawsons also gained clarity on what they wanted for their boys. The money itself became less of a worry. Now, their focus was more on helping their sons follow their dreams.

 

The Clariata process also gave them the tools to educate their sons to be stewards of the family's wealth. The Dawsons realized their assets were large enough to be a resource for current generations of their family. However, the Dawson boys and future generations of the family would be expected to contribute to the growth of the family's wealth in support of an ever-growing number of family members.

 

Ultimately, the Dawsons changed their minds about giving all their money to charity and chose to make most of it available to the family. Their sons would receive distributions as they reached certain milestones. The Dawsons also created a family foundation they would collectively direct, making grants reflecting the family's values.

 

The Dawsons were now focused on the journey they lived each day. They were relieved once they had a vision for their future and a plan to pursue what they wanted for themselves and their sons. They now think positively about the boys' future rather than worrying about how the money might destroy them.

 

Through the Clariata process, Kevin and Christy learned their sons were interested in working with mentally disabled children. Their cousin Wendy was diagnosed with autism shortly after birth. They became very close with their cousin and went to summer camp with her each year. The Dawson boys loved seeing how all of the kids enjoyed their time at camp.

 

In the ensuing year, as Kevin and Christy encouraged the boys to dream about things they wanted to do, they both talked about wanting to start their own camp for children with special needs. 

 

The whole family went to work on this dream immediately. 

 

Camp Wendy is now up and running and making a big difference in the lives of many families who have children with special needs.

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