CASE STUDIES AND
FINAL REPORT

COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS
COLLECTION

LINKS TO ADDITIONAL
RESOURCES

The Practice of Family Philanthropy
in Community Foundations

PRACTICES FROM YOUR COLLEAGUES:
REACHING FAMILIES AND DONORS

Has your foundation created an effective strategy or practice for reaching families and donors that you would like to share? Please send your suggestions to ncfp@ncfp.org. Remember to include a brief description of the challenge you were seeking to addres, how you addressed that challenge, and what the results have been. Also include your contact information for those looking to get in touch with you for further details.

STRATEGY/CHALLENGE #1:
OUTREACH TO THE ‘HIGH-TECH’ WEALTHY  

How do you "model" the idea of an advised fund as a family-giving vehicle among the high-tech wealthy when their kids are still in their teens?

HOW: 
One of the answers is to have the board (and in our case, even a staff member) create funds that name their children (or some of them) as co- or successor advisors.  This year I hired a new donor services officer who had a successful high-tech career and already had an advised fund at a community foundation elsewhere.  She established a new one with us and named her daughter as co-advisor.  She has also pledged a significant gift from the fund to help launch a new Women's Fund.

RESULTS: 
This kind of "modeling" by a staff member has the effect of getting potential donors' attention immediately.  The Donor Services Officer can tell her personal story, when appropriate, and speak from the heart about why she chose to work with (and at) the community foundation.

Foundation: Community Foundation for Monterey County
Address: 99 Pacific St. #155-A
Monterey, CA 93940
Website: www.cfmco.org

Submitted by: Todd Lueders
Email: todd@cfmco.org

STRATEGY/CHALLENGE #2:
INTRODUCING YOUNGER DONORS TO PHILANTHROPY

Introduce young adults of means, particularly children of donors, to the practice of philanthropy.

We wanted them to appreciate the agencies delivering services in this community, be more involved in philanthropy and to be prepared to be contributing board members of non-profit organizations and someday the Community Foundation.  For the ones whose families had funds at the CF, I wanted them to appreciate them and want to continue with them.   For the ones whose families have not been as involved in philanthropy, I hoped they would change that pattern.

HOW:  
We convened a group of 30-40 year olds who each put in $500 and we matched it.  We took them on site visits to various agencies to whom we assumed they might ultimately make grants.

RESULTS:
They discovered a larger challenge in our community--public transportation.  They are taking this on.   The Community Catalysts, as they call themselves, have made contacts with local and State people and we anticipate helping fund a study of the challenges including our rural areas. Also, a federal grant will be written for funds since this is a major project.  

This group is taking on a larger project than I had envisioned.  We will work with a State funded agency to apply for a federal grant for a study of local transportation issues and how they can be solved, hopefully.   And, I hope they will realize and appreciate what can be accomplished as people work to fill gaps in their communities.  I also hope they have a better understanding of Community Foundations and the importance of philanthropy.

Foundation: The Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier
Address: 401 Edwards, Suite 1111
Shreveport, LA  71101
Website: www.comfoundsb.org

Submitted by: Dorothy Bird Gwin
Email: gwin@comfoundsb.org

STRATEGY/CHALLENGE #3:
CONVINCING FAMILY HEADS THAT THERE IS VALUE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

HOW: 
Establishing supporting organizations with the community foundation by converting private foundations or upgrading large donor advised funds.

RESULTS:
Since 1997 we have successfully opened eight (8) supporting organizations with total assets of over twelve (12) million dollars in the aggregate. NOTE: we are a community foundation in a relatively small county of only 250,000 population and have over 600 funds with total assets of 61 million dollars

Foundation: The Spartanburg County Foundation
Address: 320 E. Main St. Spartanburg, S. C. 29302
Website: www.spcf.org

Submitted by:
JOHN H. DARGAN
Email: jdargan@spcf.org

STRATEGY/CHALLENGE #4:
DEVELOPING CLARITY ABOUT
FAMILY PHILANTHROPIC SERVICES

HOW: 
Two fold approach to articulate Center for Family Philanthropy:

• Created excellent brochure based on a "If your goal is X, then we can help you with Y" theme.

• Began in-depth discussion during donor orientation about mapping out family philanthropy services with a clear time-frame - set expectations early.

RESULTS:
Donors, and even more importantly professional advisors, finally can see clearly what specific services we provide, and can see examples of completed work.

Foundation: The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Address: 50 Hurt Plaza, Ste. 449
Atlanta, GA  30303
Website: www.atlcf.org

Submitted by:  Bryan Clontz
Email: bclontz@atlcf.org

STRATEGY/CHALLENGE #5:
LEARNING TO COMMUNICATE BRAND

We felt we were doing a lot to interest donors in learning more about community needs and the organizations trying to meet those needs. However, we weren't getting much awareness from our own donors and we couldn't succinctly describe this service to anyone else.

HOW: 
We developed a brand -- CEO -- which stands for Community Education and Outreach. The CEO brochure contains the list of programs, which as a whole now has definition.

RESULTS: 
People get it. Attendance at our tours has really picked up. And, we find ourselves being more creative in how to engage the donors now that we have an overarching theme, rather than a bunch of individual programs.

Foundation: The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virgin
Address: 7325 Beaufont Springs Drive, Suite 210
Richmond, VA 23225
Website: www.tcfrichmond.org

Submitted by: Robert L. Thalhimer
Email: rthalhimer@tcfrichmond.org