Knowledge Center | Report

What If? The Art of Scenario Thinking

December 3, 2020
Scenario thinking is a powerful tool for organizations of any size and scope. It can be used to address the complex challenges of large global organizations, as well as those of smaller community-based groups. This guide by the Global Business Network is primarily for leaders of nonprofits and foundations. They are responsible for long-term strategy development; they are well positioned Read More
Blog | Voices from the Field

Invest in an Equitable Future

November 30, 2020 | Liz Sessler
As protests against systemic racism took place across nation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, CapShift began to receive the same question from several families: “How can I use my philanthropic resources to advance racial justice?” It was, and continues to be, a crucial question. As we grapple with the challenges rooted in centuries of discrimination and exclusion that Read More

Liz Sessler

November 30, 2020
Liz leads the development of the CapShift technology and oversees the software development team. She co-founded and was a senior vice president at ImpactUs Marketplace LLC where she was responsible for client experience, business development, and marketing.  Liz helped develop ImpactUs as the director of innovation at Enterprise Community Partners. Earlier in her tenure at Enterprise she oversaw the launch of Enterprise’s Read More
Blog | Voices from the Field

Looking to 2021: How Funder Listening Can Help Us Rebuild

November 25, 2020 | Megan Campbell
This article was originally published by Feedback Labs and is re-posted here with permission. Read more about how funders can listen well on GrantCraft by Candid and as part of the Council on Foundations’ series about implementing the COVID-19 foundation pledge! As COVID-19 spread worldwide in early 2020, almost 800 leading philanthropists signed a pledge to act with ‘fierce urgency’ to support the people, communities Read More
Blog | Voices from the Field

Engaging Youth Voices in Participatory Grantmaking Practice

November 23, 2020 | Sheryl Seller
Photo courtesy of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation A group of teenage philanthropists sit around a boardroom table at an urban community foundation in Massachusetts. As they explore the needs they see and face in their communities, they begin to understand how different life is only a few miles from their own neighborhoods. A past participant of Youth for Community Read More
Blog | Voices from the Field

New Research on Foundation-to-Foundation Collaboration

November 20, 2020 | Bob Reid
Family foundations often attempt to further their philanthropic objectives through collaboration with other foundations. Collaboration can meaningfully expand financial, intellectual, and relational capital in making grant programs more effective and sustainable. However, foundation-to-foundation collaboration is challenging and too often fails. For example, differences in approach between local and non-local foundations or power disparities between large and small foundations can be Read More
Knowledge Center | Report

Trends 2020: Foundation Giving

November 19, 2020
This excerpt from NCFP’s Trends 2020 study shares data and analysis regarding various US family foundation giving trends, including payout rate, influences of giving decisions, discretionary grants, and much more. Family foundations must make choices around the size, number, and focus of their grants. They also have choices around how much they payout annually, the types of grants they make, and how Read More
Knowledge Center | Report

Trends 2020: Board Learning & Decision Making

November 19, 2020
This excerpt from NCFP’s Trends 2020 study shares data and analysis regarding various US family foundation giving trends, including board activity, foundations as learning institutions, development of new ideas, and much more. Family foundation board members must allocate time and identify ways to track and acquire the information they need to serve as effective fiduciaries for the organization. This section explores the Read More
Knowledge Center | Report

Trends 2020: Foundation Identity

November 19, 2020
This excerpt from NCFP’s Trends 2020 study shares data and analysis regarding various US family foundation giving trends, focus of the foundation, family member dynamics, operational effectiveness, and much more. Size and Scope By conservative estimates, family foundations represent more than 60% of the approximately 90,000 grantmaking foundations in the country; there are more family foundations than all other forms combined in Read More
Knowledge Center | Report

Trends 2020: Founder Involvement, Intent, & Perspectives

November 19, 2020
This excerpt from NCFP’s Trends 2020 study shares data and analysis regarding various US family foundation giving trends, including adherence to founder intent, founder’s perspective on family dynamics, founder involvement, and much more. Founder Involvement Founders remain actively involved in most family foundations, yet this has declined somewhat since 2015, from 64% to 56%. Founder involvement is low among family foundations formed Read More