How do you measure impact or potential impact when deciding how to be most effective?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Melanie Audette, Tomer Inbar, Tony Wells

How do you measure impact or potential impact when deciding how to be most effective, particularly when comparing the strategy of maximizing investment returns to having more money for grants versus impact investing? Melanie Audette:This starts with where you are in the process. You should think about your mission and how you are evaluating your grants, and take the same… Read More

What Are Recoverable Grants?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Tony Wells

Recoverable grants may be used to address concerns of non-profit boards that are hesitant to take on any type of debt. Some boards may have a policy that they’re not willing to take on debt, no matter what the upside is. We’ve had several situations where we became creative with our approach. We would say, “Okay, we really believe in… Read More

How Can I Help My Board Members Understand the Long- Term Nature of Impact Investing?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Tomer Inbar, Tony Wells

Tomer Inbar: To start with a short anecdote, a client of mine and I were talking about their first program-related investment (PRI) that was going to go under. Although they had a successful program-related investment portfolio, she had to go to the investment committee where her PRIs were managed and tell them that they believed that this company was going… Read More

Should we have non-family trustees?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Michael Rion

There is no legal obligation to include non-family members as trustees. Experience in the field is widely varied. Many foundations include only family members who are blood relatives, and others include family members by marriage. Many others will have one “outside” trustee, typically an old family friend and/or someone with legal or accounting experience. Still others include as a matter… Read More

Is there a role for non-trustee members of the family?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Michael Rion

Responsible family philanthropy encompasses not only a sense of public accountability but also a sense of responsibility to other family members who may not be trustees. If the donor clearly intended for the foundation to encourage the extended family to be interested in philanthropy, current trustees should consider how best to communicate foundation policies and actions and to receive appropriate… Read More

How should we choose trustees when there is a vacancy?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Michael Rion

Apart from some minimal requirements of state law (e.g., mental competency), there are no legal mandates about the process of choosing trustees. In some cases, especially in small foundations with very few family members, succession may be directed in the by-laws and/or by custom so that, for example, direct descendants are “in line” as the successor trustees.  When trustees have… Read More

Do we need formal policies on trustee selection, orientation, and evaluation?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Michael Rion

Although there are no legal requirements, commitment to responsible trusteeship includes ensuring that such policies and procedures appropriate to the size and nature of the board are in place. For many foundations, this may mean nothing more than a mutual understanding between two spouses or siblings that review and evaluation of one another’s actions as trustees is appropriate when needed… Read More

How do we include successor generations on the board?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Michael Rion

In some family foundations, there are eager and willing members of the second, third and even fourth generations who can serve as trustees. In these cases, responsible philanthropy and ethical treatment of family members means developing specific criteria for trustees and applying these criteria objectively in inviting new trustees. Criteria might include such factors as experience and maturity, diversity of… Read More

What is the appropriate role for non-family trustees and how are they selected? Should they be treated any differently from family trustees?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Michael Rion

Non-family trustee positions should be clearly defined, regarding both criteria for filling the position and the length, renewability, etc., of terms. Although nothing prevents trustees from simply appointing their closest friends and advisors without regard to other criteria, ethical responsibility considerations would suggest some more objective criteria related to the mission and purpose of the foundation and the rationale for… Read More