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In our day-to-day work in family philanthropy, we often worry about ‘what’ we do and don’t often pause to consider the ‘why.’ Perhaps we should also spend some concerted time thinking about the why — asking questions like, "Why is our family involved in philanthropy? What impact do we hope to see in our families through this work?”… Read More

Family philanthropy has been at the heart of the community foundation field since its inception. In 1914, Frederick H. Goff and his family created the first community foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.  Since then, tens of thousands of families, individual donors and corporations—many of them family businesses—have helped to launch, sustain, and grow the more than 700 community foundations that exist… Read More

The recent Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences established by tech giants Yuri Milner, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojciciki, and Mark Zuckerburg has been awarded to 11 scientists doing innovative research. At $3 million for each scientist, these awards are more than twice the amount of each Nobel Prize. [Above photo: Dr. Jane Foley, Milken Educators, state, district and school officials, and… Read More

In days of scarce resources and seemingly endless philanthropic choices, family foundations and funds can frequently feel overwhelmed by options and unsure where to best place their philanthropic bets.  Many funders wisely choose a focus area for funding, and then proceed to investigate – or be approached by – any number of apparently worthy organizations to support within that field… Read More

Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted from NCFP’s CEO Guide, Performance Review: The Complete Guide to Evaluating the Family Foundation CEO. In a 2010 interview study of 60 family foundation chief executives by National Center for Family Philanthropy President Virginia Esposito, most told her they do not receive a formal performance review by their board. But when NCFP interviewed board… Read More

Family philanthropies are intimately connected with the past that shapes them. As stewards of both a public trust and a family legacy, philanthropic families are constantly drawing on their history for wisdom, energy, and focus. That’s why growing numbers of families are recording their stories to share with future generations. The sharing can be as simple as storytelling at a… Read More