NCFP Blog

Courtesy of Jonathan Petersson from Pexels Excerpted from Spending down: Laurie Dachs answers questions for family philanthropies What was the process that your foundation went through to make the decision to spend down? What drove the decision? Our Board of Directors held multiple conversations across a year, 2008, sparked by my dad as founder and board chair. At that time,… Read More

One reason many families create foundations is to pass down philanthropic values through the generations. My grandparents founded the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation to support the issues they cared most deeply about and also to ensure that the specific values they championed throughout their lifetimes would continue to live on when they were gone. My grandparents had 10 children… Read More

During the final Engaging Youth Peer Network event of 2020, participants had the opportunity to hear about a variety of strategies for including youth in family philanthropy. Our featured speakers Alexis Marion, Neil Gobioff, and Marlene Corrado shared real stories and discussed several tools and activities that they have found helpful. This meeting was particularly special because the peer network… Read More

This holiday season, there are many who feel the weight of the year. There has been so much hardship, sickness, and struggle. In the midst of all the chaos, I have seen many bright spots from generous families around me who are giving joyfully and strategically, doing their best to make a difference with all that is going on in… Read More

Courtesy of Tim Mossholder from Pexels One of the universally shared features of our lives over the last few months has been a distorted experience of time: a toggling between a wide angle and tight focus, between measured pacing and frenetic activity. I was just recounting with my family those early days in the lead up to and following the… Read More

“Nothing about us without us,” is commonly used by community activists when speaking about the changes they want to see in their communities. The idea is simple: those most affected by social problems—the intended beneficiaries of any program—should fully and meaningfully participate in decisions about programs, policies, and strategies that may directly impact their communities. Philanthropy is not something done… Read More