Kevin Laskowski previously served as the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy’s research and policy associate. He joined NCRP in 2009 as field associate, successfully coordinating membership services and supporting the field department in national partnerships, collaboratives, and other special initiatives. Prior to joining NCRP, Kevin served as a program coordinator for the National Center for Family Philanthropy
Contributions
“Foundations do not need a lot of money to be effective,” declared philanthropy icon Paul Ylvisaker in his 1989 essay Small Can Be Effective. “If, indeed, they were to exploit only a fraction of the strategies available to them, their individual and collective impact on American life would be vastly and beneficially expanded.” Ylvisaker’s essay listed 20 functions of philanthropic… Read More
Encouraging Young Philanthropists, Part Two
Posted on January 15, 2008 by Kevin Laskowski
Last month’s Family Giving News tackled the question of how today’s giving families encourage children to be generous. This month’s issue asks: how can charitable children become effective family philanthropists? How does a family prepare the next generation for possible roles as board members, fund advisors, or philanthropic donors in their own right?… Read More
The Efroymson Family Fund: Commitment to Community
Posted on December 18, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski

Jacob and Minnie Efroymson moved from Evansville, Indiana to the relatively young state capital of Indianapolis in 1872. The couple opened a small dry goods store on South Meridian Street, unaware they were beginning a family commitment to the city that would last for generations… Read More
Encouraging Young Philanthropists, Part One
Posted on December 15, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski
The holidays are a time of celebration, sharing, and enjoying the company of family and friends. They’re also a time of advertising, doorbuster sales, and conspicuous consumption. For families concerned about raising charitable children, the holidays can represent a challenge as well as a great opportunity. “Children are barraged by media messages about how buying things will make them happy,”… Read More
Creating an Effective Grant Agreement
Posted on November 15, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski
For most of its fifty-year history, the Dyson Foundation didn’t use grant agreements. The Millbrook, New York-based family foundation was concerned the contract-like letters of agreement between grantmaker and grantee would make the foundation too formal and bureaucratic. “We started using them some years go, though, with larger grants,” notes the foundation’s Executive Vice President Diana Gurieva. “It really helped… Read More
Telling Your Family’s Story
Posted on September 15, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski

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
Beyond Grantmaking
Posted on August 15, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski

“Foundations do not need a lot of money to be effective,” Ylvisaker declared. “If, indeed, they were to exploit only a fraction of the strategies available to them, their individual and collective impact on American life would be vastly and beneficially expanded.” Charles W. Collier, senior philanthropic adviser at Harvard University, agrees. “There is more to family wealth than the… Read More
Privacy and Publicity: First Steps in Creating a Communications Strategy
Posted on July 15, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski
Family philanthropy is at once an intensely private and a very public enterprise where personal principles meet public obligations. It is often difficult to find a compromise between these competing values. Many giving families opt to keep a low public profile, preferring to remain largely out of the public eye. Others see value in stepping into the spotlight, and many… Read More
The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies
Posted on May 15, 2007 by Kevin Laskowski
Charles Bronfman returned from a trustees’ meeting of the Mount Sinai Medical Center with an idea. Bronfman, Chairman and co-founder with his late wife Andrea of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, had heard of the Medical Center’s efforts in the emerging field of personalized medicine. Dr. Jeffrey Solomon, President of the Philanthropies, recalls, “He came back to the foundation… Read More
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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