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A Conversation with Nancy Leonard, David Nee, and Carmen Siberon of the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund on Community Based Advocacy Children and storytelling have always been at the heart of the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund. It is only fitting that one of their most successful programs, “Stone Soup,” is rooted in a classic children’s story. Family Giving News recently interviewed… Read More

Much has been written about the “next generation” and its integration into family philanthropy.  How will they get involved?  Will their philanthropic initiatives look different than those of their parents and grandparents?  What tools and resources can help them be most effective? Nini Meyer was raised in a family that held philanthropy as a core value.  From an early age,… Read More

Editor’s note: As the National Center for Family Philanthropy continues its ongoing focus on the topic of transitions, this month in Family Giving News we feature an excerpt from “A Legacy Lives On: The Kaplan Family Foundation’s Successful Leadership Transition,” the new Passages Issue Brief on the Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation’s experience with transition—the factors that contributed to… Read More

In this month’s issue of Family Giving News, we feature an excerpt from the new  Passages Issue Brief chronicling the experiences of the Eckerd Family Foundation, which operated in Tampa, Florida from 1998 to 2012. 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… Read More

Family philanthropy has been at the heart of the community foundation field since its inception. In 1914, Frederick H. Goff and his family created the first community foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.  Since then, tens of thousands of families, individual donors and corporations—many of them family businesses—have helped to launch, sustain, and grow the more than 700 community foundations that exist… Read More

Thinking about entering the world of Twitter, but not sure whether it’s a good use of your time? Not sure what to tweet about, who to follow, or how to measure and maximize the value of your time spent on social media? In this month’s edition of Family Giving News, we’re delighted to share the perspectives of family philanthropy leader… Read More

The recent Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences established by tech giants Yuri Milner, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojciciki, and Mark Zuckerburg has been awarded to 11 scientists doing innovative research. At $3 million for each scientist, these awards are more than twice the amount of each Nobel Prize. [Above photo: Dr. Jane Foley, Milken Educators, state, district and school officials, and… Read More

In days of scarce resources and seemingly endless philanthropic choices, family foundations and funds can frequently feel overwhelmed by options and unsure where to best place their philanthropic bets.  Many funders wisely choose a focus area for funding, and then proceed to investigate – or be approached by – any number of apparently worthy organizations to support within that field… Read More