Knowledge Center | Impact Story

Igniting the Spark: The Tarsadia Foundation

June 22, 2016 | Youth Philanthropy Connect
The Tarsadia Foundation is located in Newport Beach, California.  The foundation supports non-profit organizations with programs and projects that provide educational opportunities for the underserved, support health and well-being of the community, and assist to employ the employable through economic empowerment. This next gen case study describes their history of youth engagement, and the strategies they have used to engage Read More
Knowledge Center | Impact Story

Igniting the Spark: Dekko Family Foundation

June 22, 2016 | Youth Philanthropy Connect
The Dekko Family Foundation is located in Kendallville, Indiana. The idea for Youth Pods started in the 1990s, when a staff member went to a family philanthropy conference and learned about youth philanthropy initiatives. With no Dekko family members at the right age, the Dekko Foundation looked to the Michigan Community Foundation Youth Advisory Council model to develop youth philanthropy Read More
Events & Webinars | Webinars

Making Big Bets for Big Results

Bridgespan research reveals that 80% of the biggest donors aim for dramatic social change with their giving, yet only 20% of the biggest gifts (for research purposes, identified at $10M or above) over the past decade plus have gone to such causes. The Bridgespan Group identified a number of barriers and stories of how some donors were getting beyond them Read More
Blog | Featured Article

Expanding Your Comfort Zone: 5 Windows Into Risk in Family Philanthropy (Passages excerpt)

May 5, 2016 | Tony Macklin
Philanthropy is often described as society’s “risk capital.” Our generosity can support causes and ideas that business and government agencies cannot or will not. We can use our resources to inspire new ideas, challenge existing thinking, or continue supporting an organization when others won’t. However, the idea of risk in philanthropy quickly muddies as we direct our generosity through a family foundation, donor-advised fund, or other collective effort. Our ideas about and tolerance for risk diverge, shaped by individual, family branch, professional, and other experiences. Read More
Blog | Voices from the Field

Even with Complex Histories, Families Have an Opportunity to Advance Equity

May 3, 2016 | David Neal
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
Knowledge Center | Ask the Center

How do we ensure that the family will not lose “control” of the foundation over time?

There are a variety of strategies that family foundations around the country have used to retain control while engaging non-family board members in their work. These strategies may be used alone or in combination, and may include the following: Strategy 1: Create term limits for current board members. A technique used by many family foundations, term limits can be a Read More