Geography and place-based giving

Jacobs Family Foundation: Be Fearless Case Study

Posted on May 5, 2015

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, sponsored by the Case Foundation… Read More

Advisory board member roles and responsibilities

Posted on December 8, 2014

The Sample Family Foundation’s Declaration of Trust designates two groups of participants: (1) “Trustees,” all of whom are currently family members and who vote on grants and issues of governance; and (2) “Advisors” who serve in an advisory capacity without voting power. Advisors are appointed to three-year terms that may be renewed until the Advisor reaches the age of seventy-five… Read More

The Strong Scholars Program profile

Posted on July 29, 2014

Starting in 1928, the Hattie M. Strong Foundation (HMSF) has run what it believes to be one of the earliest and most successful student loan programs in the country. The foundation supports “young people of promise” in their pursuit of higher education across all fields of study in all regions of the country. Strong Foundation loans always charged zero interest… 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

The Power of Urgency – The Eckerd Family Foundation

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Jason Born

Organized from its inception as a limited life foundation, the Eckerd Family Foundation took a bold and strategic approach to using its assets to create significant change on issues affecting young people, including juvenile justice, foster care, and education… Read More

Over the River and Through the Woods: Geographic Dispersion in Family Philanthropy

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Evan Wood, Irene Siragusa, Jack Siragusa, Una O. Osili

With family members living far apart, what steps can families take to build family identity and bonds that once evolved naturally from living in close proximity? How can family members whose lives have taken different paths forge a genuinely collaborative team driven by a mission derived from and embraced by the family? How are families balancing the commitment to the foundation's "home town" and their growing concern for their own region?… Read More

Discretionary Grants: Engaging Family… or Pandora’s Box?

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Susan Crites Price

If you asked at a gathering of family foundation folks whether using discretionary grants is a good idea, you’d never reach consensus. Many family foundations don’t use them. Those that do have widely varied policies governing how much money is available, who is eligible to make the grants, and whether the grants must be within the foundation’s mission and guidelines… Read More

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