The Breakout took on “The Great Wealth Transfer Has a Power Problem,” a Forbes piece on the roughly $124 trillion set to change hands by 2048, with some $47 trillion of it going to women. Its argument is that money can transfer legally without power transferring culturally. A woman can own the assets without inheriting the relationships, access, and authority to use them.
For advancement, that reframes a familiar habit. Including a spouse in the room is not the same as treating her as a principal, and the sector’s instinct to close a “confidence gap” with literacy workshops misreads the problem. The piece calls it an authority gap, and the fix is not education but respect and engagement from the start, building a real, individual relationship with each partner long before any transfer forces the issue. The cost of getting it wrong is concrete: a donor who never felt seen in her own right rarely gives again once she is the one deciding.
The practical turn is to widen the frame. Ask how a donor makes decisions and who else is involved, whether that is a spouse, children, or an advisor, and bring those people into the life of the institution early, not just into the gift conversation. As the article concludes, the opportunity is not to prepare women for wealth as if they are late, but to redesign the conversation so they are no longer late.
Breakout summary created primarily by AI
November Agora
Topic: Everybody’s Working for the (William & Mary) Weekend!
Date: Thursday, November 5 from 12 - 1 pm ET
Speaker: Kelly Holdcraft, Executive Director of Alumni Success at William & Mary
Kelly will detail William & Mary Weekend DC 2026 which featured nearly 50 events with more than half sold out, over 1,100 attendees, and 15 university schools and units represented over a four-day weekend. From a kickoff celebration with NFL alumni to an immersive MLB college game day to a presidential conversation on artificial intelligence to tours of our 90-foot coastal marine research vessel to a sold-out auction and more, the William & Mary Weekend offered once-in-a-lifetime intellectual, professional, cultural and social experiences to all who participated!
Faculty-in-Residence
Topic: Faculty-in-Residence Symposium with Dr. Jay Dillon
Date: Tuesday, November 10 from 12:30 - 1:30 pm ET
Speakers: Jay Dillon, Ryan Catherwood, and SE Member Panelists
We’ll conclude this Faculty-in-Residence experience with Jay Dillon by hosting a round table discussion on the themes from Alumni Identity. The Symposium will be hosted by SE Publisher Ryan Catherwood, and led by SE Members.
