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Families and Community Foundations: Natural Partners, Enhanced Results

Posted on September 15, 2013

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
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Don’t Reinvent the Wheel: The Power of Field Scans

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Christine Sherry

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. Most frequently, the questions… Read More
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Getting Started with CEO Performance Review: Now’s the Time

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Susan Crites Price

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
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Real estate: The grant that keeps on giving

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Elaine Gast Fawcett

“At a time like this, we need to stop investing in treasuries and bonds and start investing directly in our communities.” —Tom Parker, Hutton Foundation As a family fund these days, you might feel like crawling into a corner and licking your endowment losses. But look on the bright side. Trying times can inspire positive change—and a chance to get… Read More
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Program and General Support: Choices for Giving Families

Posted on April 15, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski

In an ongoing salvo in the decades-long debate surrounding program and general operating support, a 2007 report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy charges: The grantmaking practices of a significant part of the foundation sector may be crippling small community-based and other nonprofit organizations because of one significant factor—the unwillingness of most foundations to provide general operating support to… Read More
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Geographic Dispersion: Opportunities for Far-Flung Families

Posted on September 15, 2006 by Kevin Laskowski

Among all the challenges that family philanthropies of all types face, giving families increasingly find themselves struggling with geography. In 2000, the National Center for Family Philanthropy and the Foundation Center found that the grants of a vast majority of family foundations were committed to a city, state, or region; only 7.8% of family foundations were classified as national or… Read More
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In Loving Memory: the Pros and Con of Legacy Grants

Posted on July 15, 2006 by Sarah Trzepacz

The loss of a loved one is difficult for any family to bear, and the desire to celebrate and honor his or her life and accomplishments is natural and common. For philanthropic families, if the lost family member has played a significant role in their giving, grief and sadness can be coupled with some confusion or uncertainty about the state… Read More
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Six Simple Steps to a Successful, Stress-free Family Meeting

Posted on May 15, 2006 by Sarah Trzepacz

Like so many other things preparation for a family meeting is vital to its success. With a little planning you can orchestrate and carry off a family meeting that accomplishes your philanthropic goals, strengthens your family’s commitment to effective governance of your giving vehicle, and is more enjoyable than you thought possible. By taking time to think through why, when,… Read More