Systems change

Funding Film to Educate, Engage and Achieve Social Change

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Ellen Friedman, Ellen Schneider, Lisa Jaguzny, Margery Goldman, Vince Stehle

A picture is worth a thousand words and increasingly a well-designed film can catalyze impact far beyond the investment required to produce it. From the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the privacy issues raised by Edward Snowden to Jewish-Palestinian relationships, learn how donor families are using films to advance change on the issues of today. … Read More

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

Fast Forward to Greater Impact: The Power of Field Scans

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Christine Sherry

Field scans are emerging as a core tool for family funders inundated by increasingly larger numbers of nonprofits seeking funding, the ubiquity of social media pitches, and an almost limitless amount of data available on the web—data which can be more overwhelming than useful. Field scans are particularly valuable for family foundations that want to try a new strategy, find… Read More

Community Connections: Place-Based Family Philanthropy

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Reginald Jones, Valerie Jacobs Hapke

While some families pay particular attention to the family’s legacy of giving, and some focus on a particular issue or cause, many choose to limit their grantmaking to a specific city, state or region. Hometown serves as both the family’s sense of place and commitment. Gratitude to a supportive community and a desire to give back mean developing giving interests along geographic lines… Read More

Measuring What Counts: Meaningful Evaluation for Family Foundations

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Anne Mackinnon

Family foundations are in business to make a difference. As one family foundation leader put it, creating a family foundation is a “powerful statement about wanting to achieve impact.” Yet family foundations often get painted unfairly as not having impact, perhaps because they aren’t always very good at understanding or describing the impact they have, even to themselves… Read More

Family Foundations as Agents of Change

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Jeffrey M. Glebocki, Joann Ricci

We often hear media reports on the contributions and impact of super-sized grants and mega-foundations. But data and experience tells us it’s the presence and consistency of small- and medium-sized family foundations that provide much of the fuel for nonprofit organizations in our communities. Family foundations are uniquely positioned to serve as leaders in community problem-solving. Because their board members… Read More

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