Principled Planning: A Guide for Family Foundation Retreats

Posted on November 5, 2006 by Elaine Gast Fawcett

In 2005, the Council on Foundations developed a set of Stewardship Principles  to help family foundation board members govern, manage and lead their family foundations. These principles were based on more than a year’s worth of work, with input from hundreds of family foundation executives and trustees as well as other experts including academics, attorneys, and even an ethicist. This… Read More

Discretionary Grants: Encouraging Participation… or Dividing Families?

Posted on August 5, 2001 by Jason Born

The practice of discretionary grantmaking brings out a wide variety of responses. This Passages Issue Brief looks at the common reasons that families use or opt not to use discretionary grants, and the typical process that is used to make these types of grants. The paper also examines how different approaches to discretionary grants can support or hinder the work… Read More

Board Compensation: Reasonable and Necessary?

Posted on April 5, 2001 by Jason Born

Deciding whether to compensate or reimburse family foundation board members can be a difficult and complex decision. This Passages Issue Brief provides guidance on the legal regulations regarding compensation, suggestions for how to initiate a conversation among your board members about whether or not compensation is appropriate, and suggestions for how to develop a written policy based on this conversation… Read More

What Ought To Be In An Organization’s Bylaws

Posted on April 4, 1999 by Betsy Buchalter Adler

Bylaws are the internal governance rules of a group of people who have organized for a common goal. Bylaws are a necessity for a nonprofit corporation because the IRS requires a charity to submit its internal governance documents as part of the tax exemption application… Read More