Kelly Nowlin

Kelly Nowlin

Surdna Foundation | NCFP Fellow (2018–2020)

Kelly Davenport Nowlin, a fifth generation member of the Andrus family, was elected as a Surdna Foundation trustee in 2010. She chairs the committees of the Andrus Family Program (AFP) and Centennial Working Group. As chair of the AFP, Kelly is responsible for outreach to, and engagement of close to 500 living descendants of Surdna founding patriarch, John E. Andrus. Kelly is guiding the development of activities marking Surdna’s 100th anniversary.

Prior to her board service at Surdna, Kelly was a founding board member of the Andrus Family Fund (AFF), an independent grantmaker launched by Surdna in 2000 as a grantmaking fund for fifth generation family members. She helped develop the fund, including program areas, governance and bylaws, mission and strategic vision, and committees of the board. Kelly served as Vice Chair, then Co-Chair for four years of her seven year term.

Currently, Kelly is Principal of KDN Philanthropy Consulting, and advises family foundations and non-profit organizations on next generation engagement, governance, organizational culture and communications strategies.  Kelly is an honors graduate of Boston College with a BA in Communications and currently lives in Hopkinton, Massachusetts with her husband and two teenage children.

Contributions

2020 Trustee Education Institute

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Ron Harris, Nicholas A. Tedesco, Virginia M. Esposito, Andrew Schulz, Patrick Troska, Mary Mountcastle, June Wilson, Ashley Blanchard, Kelly Nowlin

NCFP’s Trustee Education Institute provides a comprehensive introduction to all of the key legal, investment, ethical, grantmaking, and family dynamics issues facing family foundation board members. Featuring a faculty made up of NCFP’s senior staff and highly respected philanthropy experts, this three day, intensive seminar typically covers: Stewarding your family’s legacy and the public trust Fiduciary responsibilities and legal pitfalls… Read More
From the NCFP Fellows

Courage and Commitment: Our Personal Journeys for Racial Equity

Posted on April 2, 2019 by Mary Mountcastle, June Wilson, Kelly Nowlin

There's a blackboard with "are you ready?" written on it in white writing
As NCFP’s 2020 Class of Fellows, we’ve been sitting down and doing a lot of listening. Not the kind of listening you do at a plenary session or on a webinar. The kind of listening that requires some courage. Courage to be in spaces and conversations that are often uncharted waters and make us entirely uncomfortable. Welcome to three women’s journeys around racial equity in the field of family philanthropy… Read More

Building Bridges: A Conversation with NCFP’s New Fellows on Racial Equity

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Mary Mountcastle, June Wilson, Doug Bitonti Stewart, Kelly Nowlin

Are you breaking or bridging? We all have been affected by structural racism. NCFP’s own 2019 Fellows have dedicated themselves to getting proximate to the people, to the issue, to our families, to the field, and to thinking about how we have been impacted by racial injustice and inequity. From our Imagining the Future cross country focus groups we have heard… Read More

Cultivating A Healthy Family Culture

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Gilbert Miller, Jamie Forbes, Kelly Nowlin

The health of a family is often defined by its culture. Creating connections, positive relationships, and a lifetime of closeness takes ongoing effort and reflection. The Andrus and Forbes families have for many years been thoughtful about traditions, systems, cycles, and family governance. Learn more about their stories in our recent Passages Issue Brief, “Family Culture: Creating a Resilient Family… Read More

Family Culture: Creating a Resilient Family Tree

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Jamie Forbes, Kelly Nowlin

Family connectedness, not money, has the greatest influence on multi-generational family continuity. But when many think about legacy, it’s often in the context of multi-generational financial wealth. Money, though, masks what people are really interested in passing to future generations of their family. Instead of being the primary focus, financial assets should be viewed as an enabler to the bigger… Read More

2018 Trustee Education Institute: The Signature Seminar for Family Foundation Board Members

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Virginia M. Esposito, Andrew Schulz, David Grant, Hahn Le, Holli Rivera, Alice Buhl, Leticia Peguero, Lindsey Griffith, Mary Phillips, Nat Chioke Williams

NCFP’s Trustee Education Institute provides a comprehensive introduction to all of the key legal, investment, ethical, grantmaking, and family dynamics issues facing family foundation board members. Featuring a faculty made up of NCFP’s senior staff and highly respected philanthropy experts, this three day, intensive seminar typically covers: What does it mean to be a steward of both the public’s trust… Read More

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