CEOs and Senior Staff

The family foundation life cycle and the role of consultants

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Mary Phillips, Susan Schwartz, Suzanna Stribling

Family foundations come with a unique set of dynamics, like their dedication to preserving a legacy and to sharing decision-making among family members. These dynamics are often a significant influence on a foundation's governance and operations, and they can also extend to how family foundations' experiences with consultants differ from those of other foundations or nonprofits… Read More

Collaborating Across Power Differences

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Miki Kashtan

Power dynamics can really get in the way when you are trying to build a healthy, strong organization. If family foundations and their grantee partners don’t see eye to eye, or if junior members of the family pose challenges to their board leaders or elders, the back-and-forth struggle isn’t just uncomfortable; it can undermine the organizational stability and compromise impact… Read More

Mission Investments at the Packard Foundation

Posted on December 2, 2015 by David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Since the Packard Foundation’s first PRI in 1980, its approach to mission investing has evolved dramatically. This report by Redstone Strategy Group documents key learnings from some of the Foundation’s more innovative, complex deals – experiences that pushed the Foundation beyond the land and facilities PRIs that typified its early mission investments. The report closes with some of the most… Read More

We Can’t Force Philanthropy to Talk About Power Dynamics, Can We?

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Jen Bokoff

As a sector, we embrace and use power every day, but we don’t talk about it. Why? Well, for one thing, the dynamics are challenging to discuss; power itself can never be eliminated. With increased awareness of power, however, conversations, relationships, and strategies can shift in surprising ways. Since power can be a touchy subject, I wanted to try to… Read More

Philanthropy Lessons: The Power Dynamic

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Jen Bokoff

This video from Exponent Philanthropy's 9-part Philanthropy Lessons series explores the dynamics of grantor/grantee relationship, and provides practical actions that family foundation staff can take to lessen the power differential between your foundation and your grantees… Read More

Better Together: Realizing the Promise of Collaboration in Family Philanthropy

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Michael Moody

Unique challenges arise, and unique opportunities open up, when family donors get involved in collaborative work in philanthropy. This report explores those special challenges and opportunities, and offers a set of recommendations for how to realize the promise of working better together. The insights here are based primarily on in-depth dialogues about family philanthropy collaboration that occurred during the third… Read More

Foundations Can Get More Done by Giving Nonprofits More Power

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Kathleen Enright

For as long as foundations and individuals have given money to charitable causes, the power dynamic has been part of the equation. To many people, the idea that grant makers and nonprofits could work together on equal footing has seemed like a fairy tale, because one of them holds all the resources and decision-making power. In recent years, tension between… Read More

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