Family philanthropy structures, leaders, and goals are constantly evolving, just like the families they represent. The change that comes over time is to be anticipated, managed, and, if possible, embraced as an opportunity for renewal. The inevitable changes and transitions that come to family giving programs are too often spoken of in negative terms. As relieved as we are to make it from one challenge to the next, change is not something to be simply weathered.

Leaders will leave, and new ones will emerge. Priorities will shift. Families will move. Stock values will rise and fall. It’s all to be expected. Change comes with the territory. How your family initiates, manages, and responds to that change will determine the course of your giving and reveal your true legacy.

The Power of Urgency – The Eckerd Family Foundation

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Jason Born

Organized from its inception as a limited life foundation, the Eckerd Family Foundation took a bold and strategic approach to using its assets to create significant change on issues affecting young people, including juvenile justice, foster care, and education… Read More

A Letter to Seniors (and will be seniors): Planning for Your Future in Philanthropy

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Alice Buhl

Their stories are fascinating reminders of the many philanthropic paths available, whatever your age. Their stories fall into four categories of approaches to how they planned their own as well as their family’s philanthropic futures: senior generation members who chose to stay actively involved in leading the family’s foundation. seniors who passed on leadership but stayed active in the foundation… Read More

Giving While Living

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Gara LaMarche, Lenore Hanisch

The number of limited life foundations is increasing. Donors who decide to spend their philanthropic resources while alive employ different strategies in their grantmaking and have different goals than those families whose philanthropies are planned to exist in perpetuity… Read More