Perpetuity, lifespan, and spend down

Strategic Lifespan Peer Network: Investing with an End in Sight

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Emilie Cortes, Karie Dewan, Priscilla Enriquez

Planning to spend down is financially complex. It can be tough for board and staff to predict the financial future of the work. How do you plan for the funding needed for staffing, operations, and multi-year investments? While planning, how can you best make decisions to maximize the financial and social impact of your dollars? Join Emilie Cortes, trustee of… Read More

Strategic Lifespan Peer Network: Spending Up, Committing to Increased Assets for Increased Impact

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Colleen O’Keefe, Pat Sauer

How are you thinking about your foundation’s assets, the challenges and inequities in our world, and supporting timely problems? In 2021, the Sauer Foundation shared, “the assets of the foundation would increase from $28 million to $100 million, and that amount would be invested in the community over the next 10 years.” This foundation’s gift to spend up and make… Read More

Strategic Lifespan Peer Network Retreat

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Laurel Randi, Priscilla Enriquez, John Esterle, Glen Galaich, Marcus F. Walton

Learn with your peers from foundations who are considering or who have decided to spend down. This retreat will feature inspirational conversations, field-building and peer connections, case studies, and learning with a peer on the final stages of spending down. The sessions included will be: A Conversation about the Changing Field with Marcus Walton, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, interviewed by… Read More

Limited Life Foundations: Lessons from CEOs

Posted on June 8, 2021 by John Esterle, Joe Del Guercio, Teri Behrens, Glen Galaich, Ellen Friedman

Philanthropic purpose, impact, and perpetuity are on the minds of giving families more than ever before. Many are reconsidering the lifespan of their giving effort with a fresh lens as community needs increase and the sector evolves. Yet the opportunities of limited lifespan are often not clear or not fully understood, and neither are the potential challenges. In this webinar,… Read More

Legacy in Family Philanthropy: A Modern Framework

Posted on May 16, 2021 by Shira Saperstein, Janice Simsohn Shaw

Adult hand holding child's hand - legacy
Legacy is a fundamental consideration in the practice of effective family philanthropy, yet it remains one of the most ambiguous and often overlooked concepts in our field. Many families approach legacy with a retrospective lens—one that reflects on a philanthropic effort across a number of years or even generations. However, legacy is emergent and iterative. It ought to be considered… Read More

Strategic Lifespan Peer Network: Participatory Grantmaking

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Ibrahima Thiam, Lynda Mansson

How can we shift power and engage others in our decision-making process? How can we listen more effectively and support collaboration in our grantmaking? Join this important conversation with MAVA Foundation Director General Lynda Mansson and Ibrahima Thiam, executive director of Wetlands International Africa and a MAVA partner. They will be discuss how MAVA, a spend down foundation, has embraced… Read More

Strategic Lifespan Peer Network: Using Systems to Achieve Sustainable Success

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Brian Collier, David Peter Stroh

Why do social systems resist our best intentions to improve their performance? How can you use systems thinking to achieve sustainable system-wide impact by taking both the short and long term consequences of your decisions into account? Join field expert David Peter Stroh for a conversation with Brian Collier, Executive Vice President of the Foundation for the Carolinas. Brian has… Read More

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