Family Philanthropy Playbook for Community Foundations

Unit 3: Advice From Peers

Your peer community foundations have offered insights into the choices they’ve made about their business models for family philanthropy services. Their decisions are based on factors beyond asset and staff size, including market opportunity, customer demand, board strategy, and more.


BORROW AND ADAPT: Business Plan and Model Samples [members only]

Community foundations in Akron, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oregon, and more shared insights into their financial models, fee structures, business models, and more.


TUNE-IN (60 minutes): Family Philanthropy Services Survey Results

In this July 2021 topical call, NCFP’s Senior Program Consultant, Tony Macklin discussed the results of a services and business model survey of 22 community foundations.


Tune-In (61 minutes): Spark Session —Community Foundation Business Models for Family Philanthropy [members only]

In this 2017 webinar, staff of the Community Foundation of Northeast Florida and the Seattle Foundation described their value propositions, cost-revenue models, and more.


Tune-In (59 minutes): Spark Session —ommunity Foundation Business Models for Family Philanthropy Round 2 [members only]

In this 2018 webinar, staff of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation and the Oregon Community Foundation described their value propositions, cost-revenue models, and more.


Tune-In (63 minutes): Business Models for Family Philanthropy Services Round 3 [members only]

In this 2019 webinar, staff of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley and Community Foundation for Montery County discuss their value proposition, approaches to costs and revenues, success measures, and more.


TUNE-IN (73 minutes): Business Models for Family Philanthropy Services Round 4 [members only]

In August 2020, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and Greater Kansas City Community Foundation discussed how they structured their business models for more intensive services to multi-generation and multi-branch families.


TUNE-IN (73 minutes): Business Models for Family Philanthropy Services Round 5 [members only]

In November 2022, the Community Foundation of Louisville and Central New York Community Foundation discussed how they structured their business models for more intensive services to multi-generation and multi-branch families.