The family foundation life cycle and the role of consultants

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Mary Phillips, Susan Schwartz, Suzanna Stribling

Family foundations come with a unique set of dynamics, like their dedication to preserving a legacy and to sharing decision-making among family members. These dynamics are often a significant influence on a foundation's governance and operations, and they can also extend to how family foundations' experiences with consultants differ from those of other foundations or nonprofits… Read More

Collaborating Across Power Differences

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Miki Kashtan

Power dynamics can really get in the way when you are trying to build a healthy, strong organization. If family foundations and their grantee partners don’t see eye to eye, or if junior members of the family pose challenges to their board leaders or elders, the back-and-forth struggle isn’t just uncomfortable; it can undermine the organizational stability and compromise impact… Read More

Risk in Philanthropy: A Framework for Evaluation

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Open Road Alliance

To help both grantmakers and NGOs better identify, assess, mitigate, and plan for risk in their portfolios, Open Road Alliance offers this framework for evaluating risk. This brief framework is designed to provide grantmakers and NGOs with tools to conceptualize and describe risk and its implications within the scope of their philanthropic work… Read More

Ten ways philanthropic families work with community foundations

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Audrey Jacobs, David O. Barrett, Elizabeth Sullivan, Lauren Amos, Mark Neithercut, Rob MacPherson

This special webinar as we count and describe the many ways that philanthropic families work with the more than 800 community foundations spread across North America. From partnering for impact to serving as a training ground for younger family members, community foundations and families have been partners since the very first community foundations were founded just over a century ago… Read More

Giving That Gets Results: SSIR x Bridgespan series on adaptive philanthropy

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Alison Powell, Susan Wolf Ditkoff

Adaptive philanthropy is one of the more interesting developments in the field of philanthropy. Over the course of eight weeks in the late fall of 2013, SSIR and Bridgespan presented Giving That Gets Results (www.ssireview.org/effective_ philanthropy), a series of blogs, videos, and webinars that explored adaptive philanthropy, and other important approaches to philanthropy. … Read More

Telling your story to maximize community impact

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Jay Ruderman, Kate Wolford, Lora Smith, Vince Stehle

Have you thought about using Twitter or google hangouts but aren’t sure if it is a good use of your time? Have you been approached by a long-time grantee who has an idea to create a film dedicated to highlighting their cause – and wondering if this is a good use of your philanthropic dollars? Have you been told to have a website but not sure it is worth the bother? Are you interested in learning how to leverage the reputation of the foundation in the twittersphere to make a difference in issues you care about?… Read More