Family Dynamics

Rural Funders Peer Network: Connecting with Peers to Share Successes and Opportunities

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Erin Borla, Wynn Rosser

Use this opportunity to share experiences of best practices for working in rural areas, discuss tactics and strategies, and connect with funding and partnering opportunities to leverage your investments and increase impact. This conversation will focus on successes and opportunities. Please come prepared to share! Some questions to consider: What initiatives are you attempting? What are you funding? What is happening… Read More

Effective Family Philanthropy: The Roundhouse Foundation

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Ade Adeniji, Inside Philanthropy

How the Family Behind a Sportswear Behemoth Is Expanding Its Philanthropy for Rural Communities In 1937, Paul Lamfrom fled Nazi Germany and later founded Columbia Hat Company, a modest hat manufacturer in Portland, Oregon. When Paul passed away, the company’s reins were handed over to his son-in-law, Neal Boyle, who’d been working for him. After Neal died suddenly in 1970,… Read More

Effective Family Philanthropy: The Sobrato Family

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Ade Adeniji

The Personal and the Collective: How Three Generations of the Sobrato Family Give The Sobrato Organization in Silicon Valley has developed more than 21 million square feet of office space, R&D and multi-family projects since the 1960s. Today, the company’s real estate portfolio includes over 7.5 million square feet of office space in Northern California, with tenants like Netflix, Airbnb… Read More

Effective Family Philanthropy: Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Ade Adeniji

How Multiple Generations of the Disney Family Come Together to Fund Social Justice in LA and Beyond It all began at Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in October 1923. Here, bright young cartoonist Walt Disney and his older brother Roy O. Disney established the upstart studio in Hollywood, California. Walt arrived in Los Angeles from the Midwest after his previous effort,… Read More

Engaging Youth Peer Network: Teen Philanthropy—Models and Strategies for Ages 13-18

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Caryn Conway, Cadence Miller, Neil Gobioff

Young People Learning About Philanthropy
What are models to teach teens (grades 9-12) the foundations of philanthropy and lead them through the grantmaking process? Learn more about the Foundation for MetroWest’s Youth in Philanthropy program and how they engage high school youth in the surrounding communities in an experiential leadership and teen philanthropy program. Caryn Conway – an instructor for the Youth in Philanthropy program… Read More

Understanding Purpose Trusts: Advantages and Disadvantages

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Zoe Schlag, Susan Mac Cormac

Purpose trusts have been around for centuries. However, most practitioners are far more familiar with charitable trusts. Enforced in the UK by chancery courts since the 15th Century and adopted unto the US into the Uniform Trust Code in 2000, charitable purpose trusts have been established to advance identified charitable purposes (instead of specific beneficiaries) but are limited in time,… Read More

Emerging Family Leaders Peer Network: Peer Connection and Community-Building

Posted on May 3, 2023

It can be challenging to be a leader in a family philanthropy context, particularly as a member of the next generation. How do you navigate the family dynamics of the multiple generations? How do you develop the skills and connections to be seen as a leader in your family’s philanthropic efforts? How do you have an influence on the strategic direction… Read More

Effective Family Philanthropy: The Cricket Island Foundation

Posted on April 14, 2023 by Ade Adeniji

What It Looks Like When a Multigenerational Family Foundation Makes All Voices Equal Therma-Tru Corporation was a family-owned business whose bread and butter was manufacturing exterior and entry doors. The Midwestern company traces its roots to the 1960s, when David Welles, a retired Owens Corning executive, purchased a bankrupt building supply company in Toledo, Ohio. The company eventually patented its… Read More

Executive Summary—Philanthropy in Complex, Multi-Generational Families: Balancing Individual Preference with Collective Purpose

Posted on April 12, 2023

fall leaves
Researchers from Lansberg Gersick Advisors consider how the family foundation’s design and operation is informed by—and informs—the family’s philanthropic activities that take place outside of it. The purpose of this study is to help families understand how they can design their family philanthropy to best meet their goals.    The study’s standout finding was that the creation of a robust family… Read More

Full Report—Philanthropy in Complex, Multi-Generational Families: Balancing Individual Preference with Collective Purpose

Posted on April 12, 2023 by Wendy R. Ulaszek, Ph.D., Ashley Blanchard

Tree in field
Researchers from Lansberg Gersick Advisors hypothesized that families’ abilities to work together effectively in their philanthropy is dependent not only on the way they design their collective family foundation, but also in how they structure the philanthropic activities outside of it. From 2018-2022, they conducted surveys and interviews and found that as families evolve, they face common dilemmas regarding their… Read More

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