Getting Started

Things We Wish Our Founders Had Told Us: Interpreting Donor Legacy

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Susan Packard Orr

This special NCFP Distinguished Fellow Essay by Susan Packard Orr explores the questions that Susan and her fellow trustees wished they had asked of the founders when they were still alive. From the introduction: This year marks the 20th anniversary of our father’s death. Our mother has been gone almost 30 years. During this time, we have worked to build… Read More

Community Foundation Spark Session: The Community Foundation’s Role Among a Family’s Professional Advisors

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Laura J. Brown, Rod Riggins, Timothy J. Belber, Tony Macklin

Most philanthropic families use multiple vehicles and a range of professional advisors to realize their mission and goals – including partnering with community foundations. How should a community foundation understand its role within that “team” of support? What are ways that community foundations add unique value and expertise in this mix? … Read More

Community Foundation Spending Policy Example

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Anonymous

We adopt an annual spending policy to preserve and build the permanent funds entrusted to us, and to maintain grant levels during periods of down markets. Endowment studies by the Council on Foundations and the Commonfund Institute demonstrate that prudent spending levels allow a fund to grow, while spending more than net returns after inflation reduces the fund’s purchasing power… Read More

Community Foundation Spark Session: Building Blocks for Community Foundations Starting Family Donor Relationships

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Jennifer Olson Curry, Laura Winter, Whitney Hosty, Tony Macklin

Community foundations of all sizes and experience levels increasingly respond to donor needs for deeper support in their multigenerational family philanthropy. Whether it is helping craft a family values statement, increasing involvement of adult children, or sharpening the family’s strategic focus, community foundation donor services teams are figuring out how to offer support in an effective way… Read More

Report to Congress on Supporting Organizations and Donor Advised Funds – Department of the Treasury

Posted on July 21, 2016 by National Center for Family Philanthropy

Title XII of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Pub. L. 109-280, 120 Stat. 780 (2006) (the PPA) made numerous changes to provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) addressing charitable giving and tax-exempt organizations. Particular changes to the law were made regarding supporting organizations (SOs) and charitable giving arrangements commonly referred to as donor advised funds (DAFs). The legislation provided a statutory definition… Read More

Core Components of Foundations that Learn

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Harold Richman, Josh Weber, Leila Fiester, Prue Brown, Ralph Hamilton, Robert Chaskin

There is a growing sense in the philanthropic field that knowledge, strategically applied, is as important to community-change efforts as money. If this is true, then foundation leaders must re-imagine and reconstruct the role of learning and give it a central place in their organizations’ missions, goals, strategies, internal structures, and external partnerships. In short, foundations must become learning institutions… Read More

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