Voices from the Field

As funders, we pay great attention to how potential grantees steward their financial resources, but do we pay equal attention to how they lead and manage their human resources? Volunteers are a vastly underutilized, yet virtually unlimited renewable resource. The need is urgent, the timing is critical, and the support is necessary… Read More

A passion for philanthropy is a gift that can be passed down through generations… Read More

I believe that Quixote Foundation’s reflective practices allowed us to hold multiple truths while engaging in internal and often uncomfortable racial equity training. Our ability to do this work at every level of the organization made a tremendous difference in our final year of grantmaking and grantee engagement… Read More

Overhead is one of the first concepts any philanthropist learns. It includes all of those administrative and fundraising costs that we secretly wish our nonprofit colleagues didn’t have to worry about. But what exactly is overhead, anyway?… Read More

We knew we had to change the dynamic. We began by changing how we show up as individuals and as an institution. The goal here was to listen with new ears – to get past our own experience, and strive to hear the lived experiences of those impacted by issues the Foundation cares about… Read More

NCFP’s 2015 Trends in Family Philanthropy study found that more than 90 percent of respondents cited the “impact of their giving” as the top motivation for their participation in family philanthropy. This same study found that just 45 percent of family foundations participate in efforts with other funders. If grant makers are interested in increasing the impact of their giving, they should give serious consideration to participating in a donor collaborative. … 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

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

Some of philanthropy’s core practices may unwittingly be leading funders to perpetuate the inequities they’re trying to eliminate… Read More