Headshot of Tony Macklin

Tony Macklin

Senior Program Consultant

Tony Macklin: Tony, a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy®, consults with donor families, grantmakers, and their advisors about purpose, use of resources, action planning, and learning. He previously served as executive director of the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, where he facilitated changes in visioning, impact investing, grantmaking, trustee education, and back-office management. Prior to that, in twelve years at the Central Indiana Community Foundation, he led grantmaking initiatives, advised wealthy donors, attracted $39 million, and launched a social enterprise. His firm, Tony Macklin Consulting, serves donors and donor groups, grantmakers, and their advisors and associations and works at the intersections of meaningful giving and community results and of established practices and emerging trends.

Contributions

2024 Community Foundations Family Philanthropy Network Workshop

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Sarah Kirsch, Frank Fernandez, Cara Binder-Kopchick, Betsy Erickson, Audrey Jacobs, Tony Macklin

Community foundations networking at the 2022 National Forum on Family Philanthropy
About the Workshop For details on the 2025 Community Foundations Family Philanthropy Network Workshop please click here. What The Community Foundations Family Philanthropy Network Workshop is an opportunity to learn from your peers and build professional skills. The workshop will include both skill-building sessions on topics top of mind for community foundation staff who work with philanthropic families, and time for… Read More

Community Foundations Topical Call: Playing Multiple Roles as a Philanthropic Advisor

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Daria Teutonico, Tony Macklin

As philanthropic services staff at community foundations, we’re called to play many, sometimes conflicting roles: order taker, steward, expert consultant, facilitator, influencer, salesperson, consigliere, and more. How can we effectively clarify and balance the expectations of these roles within and across the families we support? Can we be trusted advisors while influencing families’ giving in ways that align with our… Read More

Community Foundations Topical Call: Managing Fee-For-Service Philanthropy Advising and Consulting Work

Posted on September 6, 2023 by Ana Akhtar, J.M. Johnson, Colleen McCarthy Blair, Tony Macklin

The wealth management industry has steadily increased fee-based advisory services, complementing or entirely replacing income earned from assets under management. Two drivers of this shift are the competition from lost-cost investing options shrinking firms’ profit margins, and the interest of rising generations and mass-affluent clients in fee transparency. Community foundations have also been experimenting with fee-based advisory and grantmaking services,… Read More

Community Foundations Topical Call: Philanthropic Advisor Competencies

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Dien Yuen, JD/LLM, CAP®, AEP®,, Tony Macklin

The demand for philanthropic advice is increasing and, in response, more firms and organizations are hiring advisors to wealthy donors and families. However, our field of philanthropic advisors and consultants is a beautiful mess of talents, perspectives, responsibilities, and expectations. In October 2022, the American College of Financial Services convened 50 experts and practitioners to envision a more cohesive future… Read More
From NCFP

Avoiding Avoidance: Managing Healthy Family Conflict

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Tony Macklin

A man stops dominos falling with his hand.
Avoiding conflict can often seem like the easiest path to take, but if families are to truly practice effective family philanthropy they must deal with conflict head on. Tony Macklin outlines how families can better approach this issue. Disagreements between two or more people are about what they want to happen next. The participants can typically resolve the dispute without… Read More

Community Foundations Topical Call: Balancing Individual and Collective Giving in Families

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Ashley Blanchard, Tony Macklin

Families often balance giving based on shared purpose and priorities with allowing members to pursue individual interests and goals. The tension between those two goals increases as new voices join the decision-making—spouses/partners, younger generations, non-family advisors, and more. NCFP and Lansberg Gersick Advisors (LGA) recently completed a study of how families navigate the tension and successfully sustain collaborative philanthropy. LGA… Read More
From NCFP

Building and Maintaining Successful Board Chair-CEO Relationships

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Tony Macklin

Liz Bonner, Nat Chioke Williams, Diane Kaplan, and Adam Gibbons speaking at Building and Maintaining Successful Board Chair-CEO Relationships at the 2022 National Forum on Family Philanthropy
NCFP Senior Program Consultant Tony Macklin attended NCFP’s 2022 National Forum on Family Philanthropy. Read on for Tony’s takeaways from Building and Maintaining Successful Board Chair-CEO Relationships. “Will you let the other person be a whole person—be who they really are?” That question came early in a session about the relationship between foundation board chairs and CEOs at the 2022… Read More

2023 Community Foundations Family Philanthropy Network Workshop

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Javon L. Coney, Chanel Coney, Lester Coney, Marguerite H. Griffin, Nikè Anani, Natalie M. McVeigh, Miki Akimoto, Tony Macklin

Community foundations networking at the 2022 National Forum on Family Philanthropy
This workshop, exclusively available for members of NCFP’s Community Foundations Family Philanthropy Network, is an excellent opportunity to learn from your peers and build professional skills! We’re excited to be back together in-person for this workshop. Space is limited and network members may register up to four staff member attendees at no cost. Attendees will pay for their travel, hotel, and some meals… 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

Your Impact Strategy Doesn’t Stop at Your Grantmaking

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Dr. LaTonya Penny, Meg Baesmith, Tony Macklin

Your Impact Strategy Doesn’t Stop at Your Grantmaking
While grantmaking is often the main tool funders think about in terms of impact, there are many other innovative ways to use your time, relationships, and resources to support your nonprofit partners and the communities you serve. Funders can leverage their established platform to spread the word about needed support and convene important partners, or can provide additional capacity to… Read More

We’re here to equip you with the tools you need to make a meaningful impact. Contact NCFP for support.

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