Application Deadline: Trust-Based Philanthropy Learning and Action Cohort

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Elizabeth Snowdon Bonner, Mailee Walker, Shaady Salehi

People taking part in a trust-based philanthropy exercise
About the Cohort The National Center for Family Philanthropy and the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project are pleased to announce a six-part Learning and Action Cohort for family foundations interested in leveraging their philanthropy toward a more just and equitable nonprofit sector. At its core, trust-based philanthropy is about addressing power imbalances and shifting our culture and practices so that nonprofits have the time,… Read More

Conflict Repair & Fostering Psychological Safety: Building and expanding this essential leadership skill within the culture of family philanthropy

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Rebecca Trobe

Two women hugging. Conflict repair
This three-part series will offer those who lead within family philanthropies the time to examine and discuss how to be more equipped, mindful and proactive in navigating conflict. This is an opportunity for family leaders to increase their awareness, skill sets and comfort levels in approaching, managing and mitigating conflict within their family systems and cultures. It is essential that… Read More

Emerging Family Leaders Peer Network: Roles and Boundaries: Beyond the Natural Family Hierarchy

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Rebecca Meyer, Bryn Monahan

A group of family leaders family philanthropy
Great leaders have many skills. Two of those skills are maintaining healthy boundaries and clearly defining roles. For next-generation leaders, these can be difficult to develop because the natural family hierarchy often dominates the way roles and boundaries are defined. In this session, Bryn Monahan and Rebecca Meyer from Relative Solutions will introduce the Family Intelligence Quotient (FQ) as a… Read More

Engaging Youth Peer Network: Getting Started

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Cadence Miller, Neil Gobioff

A group of young people ready to engage in family philanthropy
If you’re just getting started on engaging youth (ages 8-21) in your philanthropy, this event is for you.  We will spend time discussing how to get started engaging youth across ages, family sizes, geography and more. Join us to consider questions like: Should our youth engagement start slowly with service projects or values-based activities? Should my family create a formal… Read More

Operationalizing Equity Practices

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Alison Upton López, Dwayne Patterson, Lorena Gomez-Barris, Angelique Power

Equity vs equality family philanthropy
For funders seeking to incorporate an equity lens throughout their work (and not just their grantmaking), there are many opportunities to shift internal operations towards more equitable and values-aligned practices. Yet while many families recognize the desire to make these shifts, they need further guidance around the specific decisions and considerations that will advance their philanthropy towards a more equitable… Read More

Developing a Purpose-Aligned Budget

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Suki O’Kane, Eric Stephenson, Lori Bezahler, Liz Sak

Developing a Purpose-aligned Budget
A yearly budget can appear rather cut and dry, but depending on who makes decisions about the budget and how these choices are made, there will be wide-ranging implications for the philanthropy’s grantmaking and spending policies. Budget decisions should also be informed by the collective values and purpose of a philanthropy, and not just the financial aspects. What are the… Read More

Your Impact Strategy Doesn’t Stop at Your Grantmaking

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Dr. LaTonya Penny, Meg Baesmith, Tony Macklin

Your Impact Strategy Doesn’t Stop at Your Grantmaking
While grantmaking is often the main tool funders think about in terms of impact, there are many other innovative ways to use your time, relationships, and resources to support your nonprofit partners and the communities you serve. Funders can leverage their established platform to spread the word about needed support and convene important partners, or can provide additional capacity to… Read More

Internal Evaluation and Learning

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Brittany Green Daniels, Arturo Garcia, Bruce Karmazin, Prentice Zinn

A family philanthropy has a much better chance of success if there is an intentional culture that values continuous improvement, feedback and professional development, and an integrated approach of learning and assessment across governance, philanthropic strategy, succession, and more. The assessment process asks organizations to evaluate their philanthropic purpose, governance, team, accountability, finances, and family—to answer how you can continually… Read More

Listening and Feedback: Tools to Assess Your Philanthropy

Posted on December 15, 2022 by C. Davis Parchment, Yvonne Belanger, Brenda Solorzano

Listening and Feedback: In Family Philanthropy
How can you elicit and act on feedback from your grantees and other external stakeholders? For all funders, gathering feedback is a helpful practice to understand how your work is impacting your grantees—and how you can more deeply incorporate the perspectives and experience of your partners and communities you serve. There are a number of tools available to facilitate this… Read More