Nick Tedesco headshot

Nicholas A. Tedesco

President and CEO

Nicholas (Nick) Tedesco is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP). NCFP serves as a hub of learning, connection, and collaboration designed to resource and activate a community of families to be intentional philanthropic stewards. Nick is a passionate advocate for philanthropy and brings over a decade of experience partnering with donors and their families to establish and meet their giving goals.

Prior to joining NCFP, Nick served as a Senior Advisor in the J.P. Morgan Philanthropy Centre where he provided clients with insights and services to help meet their philanthropic objectives through innovative advice, thought leadership and opportunities for learning and collaboration.

Previously, Nick served as a Relationship Manager at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he helped launch the Giving Pledge—an effort led by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. In this role, Nick managed relationships with current and prospective members of the pledge, as well as their staff and advisors. He helped to connect global philanthropists with one another in effort to exchange knowledge and encourage collaboration.

Nick began his career in the social sector as the Deputy Director of the Children’s Health Forum—a national nonprofit focused on the prevention and eradication of childhood diseases that disproportionately impact underserved communities.

Nick was named to the inaugural Chronicle of Philanthropy 40 Under 40 ranking in 2016. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal MarketWatch, Time Magazine and other notable publications. He serves as a director of the Wild Elements Foundation—a conscious catalyst for change that accelerates efforts to restore our global ecosystem.

Nick received a B.A. from Villanova University and resides in Washington, D.C.

Contributions

Meaningfully Engaging Next-Generation Adults in Your Family Philanthropy

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Jenna Mulhall-Brereton, Cara Binder-Kopchick, Theo Avery, Nicholas A. Tedesco, Kelly D. Nowlin

One of the most important moments in the life of a family’s philanthropy is when those who are currently managing the efforts formally welcome members of the next generation—or generations—into the work. At any stage this process requires careful planning, but formally doing so when they are adults can be particularly complex. It can come with myriad challenges, but also… Read More

How Family Philanthropy Can Support Free, Fair, and Representative Elections in 2024

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Keara Mendez, Marilyn Carpinteyro, Tomas Lopez, Nicholas A. Tedesco, Joe Goldman

In this salon conversation, family philanthropy donors will have the opportunity to learn about critical election-related areas of giving and major 501(c)(3) funding opportunities associated with each area. After every election cycle, nonprofit leaders working on strengthening democracy and civic engagement report that the funding they received often came too late to have meaningful impact. The goal of field leaders… Read More
From NCFP

Preparing for Bold Leadership

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Nicholas A. Tedesco

watercolor pine trees
As I look back at the past few years, it’s clear that the challenges we faced as a society and as a sector have been unrelenting. It’s also been a time of great promise. Many families have shifted their philanthropic practices to respond to urgent and entrenched problems. They have taken bigger risks, leaned into trust, listened to communities, and… Read More
From NCFP

Beyond the Family: An Ecosystem Approach to Family Philanthropy

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Nicholas A. Tedesco

The success of family philanthropy is dependent on the willingness of the family to embrace an ecosystem of partners. In fact, the most effective philanthropic leaders recognize that the family operates in relationship to many others—most importantly community and staff members. Embracing an ecosystem approach to philanthropy, which focuses on building and respecting relationships to others in the system, is… Read More

The Current State of Family Philanthropy: Dallas Regional Convening

Posted on July 28, 2023 by Jeremy Smith, Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, Nicholas A. Tedesco, Sarah Kozmetsky Miller, Michael Meadows

Aerial view of Dallas, Texas
In philanthropy, meaningful change is the aim—it’s the purpose and the promise. But in striving for and achieving impact, have we been effective? Who decides the measures of success and what are the conditions that promote meaningful and enduring progress? Join the National Center for Family Philanthropy and the Phillips Foundation to explore how philanthropic families are accelerating the pace of… Read More
From NCFP

Choosing Effectiveness as a Family

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Nicholas A. Tedesco

Effectiveness is a universal aspiration in philanthropy. It is ongoing and iterative, but it begins with making a choice. As our colleagues at the Center for Effective Philanthropy note, effectiveness requires four mutually reinforcing elements: goals, strategies, implementation, and assessment and learning. For family philanthropies, questions of effectiveness go even deeper. How do you build consensus with your family? How… Read More

The Principles of Effective Family Philanthropy: Equity

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Sergio Rodríguez, Liz Dozier, Cathy Cha, Erin Borla, Nicholas A. Tedesco, June L. Wilson, Kelly D. Nowlin

 Effective family philanthropy makes a collective commitment to meaningful societal change. It holds itself accountable to impact as defined by community, and to the proven practices that support it. It is adaptive, evolving with the family and the community or ecosystem within which it operates. It shares or cedes power with different family members and generations, as well as… Read More

2023 Partner Summit

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Andrea Judd-Shurmur, Bridget McGuiggan, Regina Bell, Randy Van Antwerp, Kyle Caldwell, Miki Akimoto, Dr. Brittany Kienker, Nicholas A. Tedesco, Christine Sherry, Jason Born

The inaugural Partner Summit is a virtual convening designed for our network of regional associations of grantmakers, philanthropic consultants and advisory firms and financial institutions that serve family philanthropies. The summit will explore the latest trends in family philanthropy, including promoting effective practices with members and clients, the power of cross-sector relationships and defining paths to equity and advocacy for family… Read More

Community Foundation Spark Session: Guiding Donors on the How and Now of Philanthropy

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Rebekah Allison, CAP®, Ayanna Wakefield, Brennan Gould, Nicholas A. Tedesco, Tony Macklin

Compass guiding donors in philanthropy
Our communities face many complex and interconnected challenges. Most require us to confront racial, economic, and other inequities. We’re also living in an era of massive wealth creation and wealth transfer. More donors have the resources to meaningfully address those challenges. But the how and now of their philanthropy matters more than ever. Community foundations have an incredible opportunity—and perhaps… Read More

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