NCFP Blog

Featured Article

Help Wanted: What’s So Special About the Family Foundation CEO?

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Susan Crites Price

Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from Help Wanted: The Complete Guide to Hiring a Family Foundation CEO. At some point in the life of most good-sized family foundations, the board will need to hire a chief executive officer. (For simplicity, CEO is used here to refer to the top paid staff person who may be called executive director, president, or… Read More
Featured Article

Additional Reading: Enhancing Your Family’s Philanthropic Decisions

Posted on January 15, 2012 by National Center for Family Philanthropy

There are a variety of resources, both new and old, on the topic of enhancing diversity in the view and perspectives on family foundation boards. Here are a few of our favorites: A Place at the Table: Non-Family Membership on the Family Foundation Board by Joseph Foote and Dorna L. Allen, published by the National Center for Family Philanthropy, December 2011… Read More
Ask NCFP

Training Opportunities for Younger Family Members and New Trustees

Posted on January 15, 2012 by National Center for Family Philanthropy

Our family foundation board is committed to adding several new next generation family members (i.e., in their 20s and 30s) to the board in the next 2-3 years. We also need to become more proactive in inviting younger family members (i.e., those in the 10-20 range) to participate in the family’s philanthropy. Do you have suggestions for opportunities for our… Read More
Featured Article

Discretionary Grants: Engaging Family… Or Pandora’s Box?

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Susan Crites Price

Editor’s note: This month’s feature story is an excerpt from the new edition of our Passages issue brief series: Discretionary Grants: Engaging Family… Or Pandora’s Box? If you asked at a gathering of family foundation folks whether using discretionary grants is a good idea, you’d never reach consensus. Many family foundations don’t use them. Those that do have widely varied… Read More
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Can Private Foundations Serve as Fiscal Sponsors?

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Andras Kosaras

By Andras Kosaras, Associate, Arnold and Porter LLP Private foundations frequently receive grant applications from groups that are under the fiscal sponsorship of a section 501(c)(3) public charity.  But sometimes the request is for the private foundation itself to serve as a group’s fiscal sponsor.  Is a private foundation legally permitted to serve as a fiscal sponsor?  Why would a… Read More
From NCFP

Rowing the Philanthropic Boat Together: Reflections on Consensus and Civility

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Virginia M. Esposito

A foundation needs trustees who can work together productively, but it does not require that they be unanimous in their opinions or uniform in their outlook. …A foundation’s extraordinary potential for good springs from its board’s ability to act as a collective, to be cohesive in fulfilling its public trust. As Alfred North Whitehead remarked, “No member of a crew… Read More
From NCFP

Qualities of a Good Trustee

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Virginia M. Esposito

Ginny Esposito
“As I see it, there is no other way that as few people can raise the quality of the whole American society as far and as fast as can trustees and directors of our voluntary institutions, using the strength they now have in the positions they now hold.” ~ Robert K. Greenleaf Recently, I had a wonderful opportunity to spend… Read More
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Attracting the Right Grantseekers… and Keeping Them from Drowning in Paperwork

Posted on June 15, 2011 by National Center for Family Philanthropy

How do we put together guidelines that attract the right grantseekers… and that are respectful of their time and resources? Many family foundations have written the National Center over the past 15 years asking for guidance on how to create grantmaking guidelines that attract the right grantseekers and that do not place undue burden on the applicants (or the foundation… Read More
From NCFP

Family Giving and Fairness: 8 Lessons Learned

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Virginia M. Esposito

Many of the philanthropic families who call on me for help in doing their best possible work in the best possible way invariably reach a point where they say they want a system that is fair to the family. Most start by wanting family fairness as a means to doing good grantmaking. However, over time, the goal of family fairness… Read More

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