Pride of Place

How has place-based family philanthropy evolved over time? NCFP is proud to publish Pride of Place: Sustaining a Family Commitment to Geography, a study of place-based foundations and funds. A place-based foundation or fund is committed—often exclusively—to a particular geographic region of the country.

What does it mean to have “pride of place”? How do giving families retain their commitment to the founding region or community where their philanthropic resources were first created? How can family foundations and funds accommodate increasingly disparate personal interests among those serving on the board while staying true to…

The George Gund Foundation’s commitment to Cleveland remains steadfast despite the tremendous changes that have occurred in Northeast Ohio and within the foundation.

Shirley Gonzalez, board president of the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Foundation, traces her roots in Texas well before the lifetime of her maternal uncle who made his wealth after the discovery of gas wells on his property.

If the challenge of managing a place-based foundation across multiple generations is daunting to many, it makes sense to look closely to the Bradley-Turner Foundation as the fifth generation of that family prepares to welcome the sixth to the work of the family foundation.

An abandoned lot, an experimental initial public offering (IPO) and a culture that believes that failure leads to learning inspired the Jacobs Family Foundation to transform its business model from traditional grantmaker to place-based funder to maximize impact without sacrificing its core values and mission. A Be Fearless case study,…

What if our generation aspired to create what our predecessors had by getting out ahead of the growth of our city and creating a new system of parks that would inject new life into Louisville’s neighborhoods?

Even when we aspire to fund the right things, the ways in which we provide that funding run the risk of undermining the transformative potential of such work. As funders, we desperately need to learn how to let go and get out of the way.

When the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched Family-Centered Community Change™ (FCCC) in 2012, the Foundation set out to make improvements to their approach to place-based grantmaking. The programmatic aim was to support local partnerships to help parents and children succeed together in what is known as a “two-generation approach.” Rather than…

Local philanthropy has a long and impressive history. Individuals have given to help communities where they feel a special connection over many generations. And community foundations have for decades epitomized the potential to build nonprofit capacity and philanthropy in a particular area.