Voices from the Field

Many families turn to community foundations to solve challenges ranging from geographic dispersion to anonymity, and to learn about community issues or make grants outside of the family’s core mission. … Read More

Once a donor has decided that a DAF is the right giving vehicle, she has to make a very important decision: where is she going to house her fund? Mark Neithercut, a donor and philanthropic advisor with offices in Traverse City and Chicago, shares four reasons why he chose to house his DAF in his local community foundation… Read More

Maya Patel, President of The Tarsadia Foundation, reflects on how philanthropy has brought her family closer together through a variety of domestic and international site visits and volunteer opportunities… Read More

A donor-advised fund (DAF) provides the donor(s) the opportunity to provide a tax-deductible gift to benefit the organizations and issues that the donor(s) care about most. Working with the community foundation has been great for our family because they provide management and support including handling the paperwork attendant to tax-deductions… Read More

Many of us in family philanthropy are driven by a grand vision of a better world. We are motivated by bold ideas, and finding ways to use our philanthropy to make a difference and leave a lasting impact. And, at the same time, we are too often hamstrung by a fear of failure. … Read More

Racial diversity and inclusion have been central to the grant making strategy at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for decades. In more recent years, the Foundation has deepened its engagement with racial equity. For David L. Neal, a family member and trustee at the Winston-Salem, N.C., family foundation, this focus on equity has been a high priority. Not long ago, however, as he was researching his family’s — and the foundation’s — history, he discovered that its legacy is more complicated than he had once thought… Read More

It is critical that donors invest in the long-term health and sustainability of the institutions we are asking to tackle the world’s most entrenched social problems. Starving organizations of strong strategic plans or essential technology—often viewed as overhead and therefore superfluous—actually prevents their ability to use the limited resources they do have most effectively… Read More