NCFP Blog

My friends who’ve inherited philanthropy as part of their family life have an amazing opportunity, but there’s little effort to extend an invitation outward. If we can involve our youth, then what’s stopping us?… Read More

The Giving Pledge has been successful in encouraging philanthropy among the ultra-wealthy. However, this good idea should not be restricted to billionaires. Each of us can make a personal, achievable pledge to receive less — and give and do more to help address society’s urgent problems… Read More

With help from our advisors and grantees, we will continue to explore how we can maximize strategic deployment of the Foundation’s resources to support healthy ecosystems and sustainable, vibrant communities… Read More

Reflecting on bits of wisdom to ground what will be my eighteenth year in the philanthropic sector, I didn’t want to defer to words such as strategy, impact, risk, and collaboration, which frame most conversations in our workplaces… Read More

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC raised the question about why some philanthropists choose a limited liability company (“LLC”) instead of a private non-operating foundation (“foundation”) to carry out their mission… Read More

I have been talking with families and executives lately about the growing number of private foundations deciding to “sunset” after a predetermined number of years. The primary reason for this is the concern about the mission and values of the foundation shifting away over time from the original intent of the donor… Read More

As the world faces one of the largest refugee crises since World War II, understanding how to fund effective solutions has proven to be a difficult, complex task… Read More

Over the past 18 months, the trustees and staff of the David Rockefeller Fund have embarked on a journey to engage a new generation of family trustees and reinvent a 25 year-old family foundation for a new century of philanthropic challenges… Read More

Every grant award offers a potential risk that should be understood and properly mitigated. Providing grants to a charity that has had its tax-exempt status revoked — even unknowingly — can lead to the disbursement being considered a taxable expenditure, prevent foundations from meeting the annual 5 percent distribution requirement, and cause the IRS to levy excise taxes — stiff fines — on the foundations involved… Read More