National Center Announces CEO Initiative: Let’s Create the Handbook Together!

Several years ago, the head of a major corporate giving program phoned me looking for advice.  He was sick of corporate politics, he said, and felt the time was right to make a major career move.  He had decided that the place for him was a family foundation.  “I want you to help me find a job as the CEO of a family foundation,” he said, “and I want you to find me one that has no family stuff!”

Many thoughts raced across my brain.  Among them:

• I believe they call that an independent foundation…
• How do I warn any potential family foundation employer?
• How do I tell you that you might want to become more aware of and sensitive to family “stuff?”
• And, most importantly, why would you want to miss the family dimension: it can be challenging but it can also be the best part!

Providing staff leadership to family foundations calls for extraordinary talents and experiences.  Depending on factors such as family governance, whether the donor is still living, the size of the foundation, the complexity of the grantmaking program – and many, many more – the chief executive officer is often the one responsible for helping a private donor family realize its philanthropic goals while ensuring the integrity of a valuable public trust.  You can be program expert, leader of many program experts, liaison to the community (civic, nonprofit and media worlds included), family counselor, investment expert, and a visionary capable of seeing something that might be intended to exist over several generations. 

There is no handbook.  (Actually a family foundation CEO asked me about the mythical “handbook” just this month!)  Most who hold this simultaneously rewarding, inspiring, and, at times, maddening position simply learn by doing.  Those who are newer to family philanthropy often need help navigating the unique dynamics of their donor family.  Those who find themselves in the position for a long time (not at all unusual) discover they need opportunities for personal and professional renewal.  And I’ve not even begun to address how the circumstances change when the CEO is – or is not – a member of the family!

As the only resource center dedicated to understanding and supporting family philanthropy, we here at the National Center remain concerned about the gap in the field’s knowledge about how people prepare for and serve effectively in this critical role.  Given our concern and our special ability to advance knowledge in the field, I am excited to announce a new initiative designed to fill this gap – and fill it richly.

The National Center Board has approved a sweeping effort to develop both research and education programs designed to describe the challenges CEOs face and to share new resources to address these issues. An online survey project will reach out to as many chief executives as we can identify.  A more intense, personal interview study will be conducted with many of these individuals.  Focus groups and educational workshops will flesh out the themes, and a national invitational symposium in spring of 2011 will examine the opportunities and challenges of these leaders now and in the future.  A series of individual profiles of these CEOs will be inaugurated.  Finally, a host of educational programs and materials will share all we learn.

If you have a thought about this initiative, want to add a question, would like to receive the survey or be interviewed, or want to make sure you get the final reports, please let me know. Our vice president, Susan Price, will be taking the lead on the educational programs and the online research. I will be conducting the personal interview study and writing the summary and the profiles.  As always, we welcome your guidance and your support.