From NCFP

As NCFP’s 2020 Class of Fellows, we’ve been sitting down and doing a lot of listening. Not the kind of listening you do at a plenary session or on a webinar. The kind of listening that requires some courage. Courage to be in spaces and conversations that are often uncharted waters and make us entirely uncomfortable. Welcome to three women’s journeys around racial equity in the field of family philanthropy… Read More

A letter from NCFP Founder and President Ginny Esposito… Read More

There is a lot of justifiable attention paid these days to some of the BIG questions about philanthropy and the philanthropic process: Why give? How much to give? What to give to? What difference does it make?… Read More

The title of this post has been carefully chosen to start or renew a conversation around great governance. How do you build the board your foundation deserves? Are there practices that make the most of volunteer leadership? Are there practices that keep you from having a highly functioning board? The answer to both is a resounding YES… Read More

At our first retreat, twenty years ago this spring, the remarkable founding board gathered at Pocantico Conference Center and tackled this frustration. After some minutes, founding board member, Ira Hirschfield, of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, shifted the conversation. “We know what we are not,” he acknowledged, “but what do we stand for?”… Read More

How does the “B+” or even the “A+” organization stay that way, vigorously committed to the revitalizing promise of renewal? And what can members of newer family foundations learn from those who have successfully been meeting these challenges?… Read More

Why does your family give? This question is central to the work you do — because it helps understand the motivations behind your foundation’s mission. … Read More

But I will never forget that December day many years ago when a check arrived from David Rockefeller. Back then, I got to open the envelopes myself and what I pulled out looked like a personal check. I stared at it for a very long time, absorbing what it meant to me… Read More

Today marks the official launch of Splendid Legacy 2: Creating and Re-Creating Your Family Foundation. This new book, published by the National Center for Family Philanthropy, is an update to the popular, out-of-print 2002 first edition and includes advice from some of the field’s leading experts… Read More

Successful family foundation board chairs are able to both drive action and manage egos — and are often the difference between a foundation deftly navigating challenging situations and being tripped up by them… Read More