Voices from the Field

Giving families have historically turned to each other for advice about family philanthropy. NCFP translated these stories into data by producing the first statistically-significant benchmarking study of national family foundations, Trends 2015. The study’s findings have helped families navigate the sector for the last five years—highlighting what their peers are doing and why. NCFP is now proud to present the… Read More

Editor’s note: While this post is from 2005, the advice is timeless!  Providing for children not only involves ensuring that they have clothes on their backs, roofs over their heads, and food in their stomachs, it also requires that families supply a sense of appreciation for their gifts, monetary and otherwise, and the desire to share those gifts with others… Read More

Editor’s Note: Originally posted to Exponent Philanthropy’s blog. Many of our clients consider whether to involve non-family board members either early in the formation of their foundation or at some point during the foundation’s growth and development. This article discusses factors to consider in determining whether and how to include “outsiders”: the selection criteria of non-family members for board service;… Read More

Editor’s Note: This blog post originally appeared here and on NCFP’s blog in 2018. Balancing privilege with responsibility is no small feat. And then, after you miraculously have figured it out for yourself, how do you pass this wisdom down to your next generation? In this blog, I will highlight what I mean by privilege and then share a few examples of… Read More

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in The Philanthropist, is first of a series that will explore rural philanthropy in Canada. A French translation is also available. When a group of Prince Edward County residents decided to establish a community foundation for the pastoral rural island region in eastern Ontario in 2008, they began not with an endowment, as is… Read More

Editor’s Note: The following is a conversation with Edgar Villanueva, author of Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance and board member of the Andrus Family Fund. It is an excerpt from the forthcoming Passages Issue Brief: Bridging the Power Divide that will address power dynamics in family philanthropy.   “One of the most critical conversations we… Read More

From February to August, I pulled double duty—working full-time in communications and marketing at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and interning at The West Foundation, an Indianapolis-based family foundation that focuses on international grantmaking. My internship has come about because of another dual role—being an employee and a part-time master’s degree student at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy… Read More

Most discussions of younger donors tend to focus on how we give—our impact focus, our desire to be involved with the organizations we fund, and our interest in making a difference through social enterprise and newer forms of philanthropy. These trends are important to my family’s giving and I see them frequently working with younger donors in my capacity as… Read More

Money Messages and Wealth Identity When we work with philanthropic families in our multigenerational and next generation engagement practice at 21/64, family members share their values, their vision and their philanthropic passions and grantmaking.  Grantmaking is many things to many people, but it is fundamentally about the transfer of money. In our work with families, it often makes us wonder… Read More