A family foundation CEO that I know from Australia sent an email expressing regret that she had not been able to arrange her schedule to attend the Council’s Family Philanthropy Conference last week. She had hoped to talk with other families who are dealing with some of the same issues as her 50 year-old foundation.

Her challenges are no different than those of U.S. family foundations, and her list was a mirror of the kinds of subjects covered at the conference. Of course she could buy recordings of the sessions to get an idea of what was discussed. But technology can’t substitute for actually being there. Much of the learning at conferences takes place in the halls between sessions, or over coffee, where families share their current challenges or successes and learn from their peers. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week at the Council’s Family Philanthropy Conference in San Diego, I reported briefly on a discussion held as a “book club” conversation among foundation trustees and staff about the Jeff Jarvis book, “What Would Google Do?” In a small breakout group, I learned from Jessamyn Lau, program leader at the Peery Foundation in Palo Alto, CA, that they used Twitter in their strategic planning. I was intrigued by this notion of “strategy haiku in 140 characters or less” so Jessamyn and I arranged to speak by phone today. Here’s what I learned. Read the rest of this entry »

The parable of a sudden and growing number of babies that are found mysteriously floating in the water was used to frame the discussion on strategic philanthropy at the session Strategic Philanthropy: Vehicles for Getting it Done.

The basic premise is that a group of villagers is working to reach a consensus on how to save the babies. They have two choices: to continue to remain downstream and focus their efforts on a rescue operation by getting the babies out of the water; or travel upstream to address the root cause of why the babies are in the water in the first place. Graphic but illustrative of the choices many grantmakers face on a day-to-day basis. Read the rest of this entry »

Who but Ginny Esposito can accurately and appropriately quote Alexis de Tocqueville, engage an audience with humor and present facts based on primary research? Ginny did it again as she presented one of the final workshops (The Value of Family Philanthropy: For Family? For Democracy?) at the Family Philanthropy Conference and kept the audience spellbound.

I can tell you it was worth it! The workshop participants were treated to an advanced look at findings from the recently completed research about the value of family philanthropy conducted by Ginny and her National Center for Family Philanthropy (NCFP) colleagues. The rest of you will have to wait for the NCFP publication in early spring. Read the rest of this entry »

As technology continues to radically transform how people shop, plan, work and communicate, some are exploring the potential impact technology could have on the philanthropic field. Our sector has not been a player in the technological transformation of the 21st century. What opportunities are we missing?

The session, Technology Task Force Town Hall Meeting, was chaired by Akhtar Badshah, senior director of Global Community Affairs at Microsoft, who is leading a task force to examine this question for the Council on Foundations. Read the rest of this entry »

What a treat to hear Jeff Jarvis speak via Skype at the Council on Foundations’ Family Philanthropy Conference! The delivery vehicle was ideal given the topic; Jarvis navigated his talking points on his computer monitor in one window, while speaking directly to the Council’s live audience of hundreds in another.

“It’s a new world, Golda,” Tevye said in The Fiddler on the Roof.

Jarvis’ recent book, What Would Google Do?, was the grounding for his talk on Tuesday, as our moderator, Kari Dunn Saratovsky, vice president of Social Innovation at The Case Foundation, brilliantly contextualized Jarvis’ universal points of Googliness within the field of philanthropy. Read the rest of this entry »

Differing views, opinions, approaches and predictions for the future can lead to uncomfortable conversations within families. And, too often, the outcome is deadlock—at best.

According to Harvard lecturer, author and consultant Doug Stone, these conversations—where both parties truly believe they are right—will never be productive if we continue to talk to people “as if their head is an empty vessel and our talking will fill their brain.”

Stone suggests approaching these conversations differently: work to understand why the other person holds the beliefs they do. Read the rest of this entry »

The topic was small grants by family foundations and each of the panelists shared solid examples of successful small grants. However, the most exciting part of the Size Doesn’t Matter workshop was the new format designed and facilitated by Wendy Jaffe of The Trio Foundation of St. Louis.

The panelists, Shirley Fredericks, Matthew Hervey, Athan Lindsay and Kathy Doellefeld-Clancy, presented compelling success stories of small grants made by their foundations. Then, in a new twist employed by Ms. Jaffe, the panelists each joined workshop participants at one of four tables where in an eight minute “speed dating” format, they responded to questions in a small-group setting. Read the rest of this entry »

In the family philanthropy field, we often urge families to talk about their legacies and shared values. We expect that all families will just take our suggestion and engage in healthy, helpful discussions. Some families may be able to do just that, but many avoid such discussions as long as possible.

In the Getting Aligned Across Generations workshop, Allison Sole and Julie Morton succeeded in demonstrating to a room full of strangers how productive and rewarding these personal discussions can be. Using 21/64’s “Picture Your Legacy” card deck to stimulate thinking, participants partnered with each other and shared key elements of their desired legacies. Read the rest of this entry »

How do family foundation trustees move the conversation from dollars and privilege to the impact of their work?

A small group of family foundation trustees gathered to learn from Mark Sedway of the Philanthropic Awareness Initiative, how engaged Americans, or 12 percent of U.S. adults, perceive foundations. We learned that these engaged Americans generally aren’t aware of foundations or their impact, yet they still appreciate the foundations in their communities. Read the rest of this entry »

When I go home for the holidays to Dallas, Texas, I have the most interesting family experience. Let me see if I can get this straight: My mother was remarried when I was 18 to a man that makes her smile so hard that I truly believe it hurts. My little brother, who is 28-years old, is married to a lovely woman and now has three adorable children. My stepbrother is 19 and my half-sister, who just discovered boys, is 13. I have over 30 cousins because my mother’s mother had eight children and each of them had several children, too. We’re a large family; we’re a Texas-sized family. What can I say? Everything is bigger in Texas! Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it’s the beginning of day 2 of the Family Philanthropy Conference so I guess that means the conference is fully off and running. So far, the one thing I have really been struck by, and grateful for, is that so many participants are willing to engage in the discussions, and are connecting with each other. It is us, after all, that makes us a strong sector.

That is what struck me on Sunday during the session What Would Google Do? bookclub-style discussion. I was moderating a discussion in anticipation of the closing plenary on Tuesday (Direct From Davos: Jeff Jarvis on “What Would Google Do in Philanthropy?), and 40 people showed up, rather than the 10 I was expecting. We broke up into small groups, and I set everyone off with one question and planned on interrupting every few minutes with a new question for all the groups. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a movie genre commonly referred to as the “four-hankie” film. This trite term is meant to describe films that may have an inspirational and/or sad element. Upon first glance, the title of the session I attended (Working Toward the Good: Engaging Grief, Loss and Family Philanthropy), would suggest that the content would center solely on sadness, but there was a healthy dose of inspiration, candor, respect, tears and tenderness.

The skilled art of leading a discussion about grieving where the emotional pain for some was still raw and filled with a range of emotions from guilt, anger, curiosity, confusion and love, was evident. Read the rest of this entry »

Oprah calls it an Ah Ha! moment. You know it. Someone says something and everything suddenly makes sense. It clicks. You get it. The missing piece comes together and now your mind, carrying your heart, can move forward.

At the Social Justice Philanthropy Collaborative’s Pre-Conference workshop on Saturday, a room of 25 philanthropic leaders came together to tackle what it means to do social justice philanthropy in this most fascinating moment in our world’s history. It was a tall order and we had 2.5 hours to do it! Read the rest of this entry »

Mary Galeti and Audrey Jacobs, co-chairs of the 2010 Family Philanthropy Conference, kicked off our three days together with a warm welcome and powerful visual presentation of what they hope for our experience. Mary and Audrey bring different perspectives to their philanthropic work: Mary is a trustee of her family’s foundation, The Tecovas Foundation, and Audrey is the director of Family Philanthropy at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. They and the planning task force have set an impressive program ensuring that attendees will connect with one another during workshops, sessions, site-visits and breaks on the patio overlooking the bay. Read the rest of this entry »

In this tough economy, one of the most frequent calls we’re receiving at the National Center for Family Philanthropy is from families re-thinking perpetuity. It’s understandable that when the needs are so great, donors would debate whether the immediate impact their foundations could have outweighs the benefit of staying in the grantmaking business to benefit society for years to come. It’s also a question that is arising more often because some of today’s most visible funders, such Bill and Melinda Gates, have announced their intention to limit the life of their foundations. Yet they are the minority. Read the rest of this entry »