Voices from the Field

Myron Miller, trustee of the Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation, sat among members of the clergy at an immigration rights event hosted by Massachusetts Communities Action Network—a faith-based organizing group. His presence in that setting was unusual for a trustee, but not at all surprising for a foundation that prioritizes community connections as the cornerstone for effective giving. “That… Read More

Jen Risher is the author of We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth, and co-founded the #HalfMyDAF initiative in response to the pandemic. In this blog, Jen shares her personal reflections on wealth, the impetus for starting #HalfMyDAF, and perspectives on the current state of philanthropy. Can you please share your story of coming into wealth? I am lucky… Read More

The Trustee Education Institute is one of NCFP’s signature events, offering family foundation board members and CEOs a comprehensive overview of family philanthropy trends and topics. Last year’s virtual Institute featured conversations on values, racial equity, board chair leadership, next-gen engagement, and much more. Here are short video highlights from a few of those sessions in 2020. Please visit the… Read More

This article was originally published by Inside Philanthropy and is re-posted here with permission. The recent IPCC report couldn’t be clearer: The world needs wide-scale, transformative action, swift action, to ensure we don’t blow past the critical 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in average global temperatures. Mobilizing nations and market forces to achieve this goal, however, should not blot out America’s real-time responsibility to… Read More

Courtesy of Kindel Media from Pexels As the second part of our series on 21st Century Collaboration, we explore a common tension that often arises for family foundations caught between a desire for open collaboration and a need for a clear governance structure. Our interviews with over 25 innovative philanthropic and socially-minded organizations (some of whom are listed at the… Read More

Courtesy of Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash  This blog summarizes key notes from our August Fundamentals of Family Philanthropy Webinar. Impact is often an elusive concept in philanthropy. Giving families want to understand the impact of their investments, as well as the most effective way to assess progress, how to define and measure success for challenging and long-term problems, and ways… Read More

Courtesy of Mikhail Nilov from Pexels If the last tumultuous year has taught us anything, it’s that future-proofing your foundation’s grants management system (GMS) is more critical than ever. Core GMS capabilities like cloud-based access for staff and trustees, paperless processing, grantee portals, and electronic payments are now baseline must-haves for family foundations of almost any size. All indications are… Read More

Courtesy of Pace Center for Girls  The recent investment by MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett in funder coalitions Fund for Shared Insight and Equitable Evaluation Initiative—both dedicated to increasing participant feedback in evaluation—is the latest vote of support for gathering evidence of program impact in ways that engage program participants as experts in assessing their own experience. Participatory evaluation (PE),… Read More

Before Covid-19, the McKnight Foundation invited grantees and partners to reserve meeting space in its Minneapolis office. Photo courtesy of the McKnight Foundation. This article was originally posted by the McKnight Foundation and is re-posted here with permission. Ever since the McKnight Foundation released the organization’s first diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statement in 2018, our board and staff have… Read More

I have been there. The visit from the big city or national funder. The awkward conversations with the visitors that want to get the best shrimp and grits or crawfish. And the never-ending sense that you are selling something that, even with the best intentions, the visitor is never going to understand. They may get enamored with your project, but… Read More