Teleconference - Many Hats of Non-Family Staff Members
April 10, 2008 - In collaboration with the National Center for Family Philanthropy, Donors Forum offered a teleconference addressing this topic. Staff members who work with family foundations and donor-advised funds are often called to play many roles including grants advisor, family mediator, management consultant, sibling go-between, psychologist, and jack of trades. This session covered questions of currently working with staff or considering hiring a staff person, a discussion of trades. This session covered questions of currently working with staff or considering hiring a staff person, a discussion of how to define roles, determine what's appropriate, and make the staff-family relationship productive and successful. Presenter Gary Tobin, President, Institute for Jewish & Community Research, was joined by Joanne Florino, Executive Director of the Triad Foundation in Ithaca, New York.

Civic Reflection for Family Foundations
February 5, 2008 - This civic reflection discussion revolved around the question of how many people-especially young people-become givers. This broad question was approached by way of two short autobiographical pieces-excerpts from Pablo Neruda's "The Lamb and the Pinecone" and Jean-Jacque Rousseau's "Reveries of the Solitary Walker," both from The Civically Engaged Reader (Great Books Foundation, 2006). Adam Davis, lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Chicago, lead facilitator of Justice Talking, and Research Associate with The Project on Civic Reflection, facilitated the conversation.
This civic reflection discussion revolved around the question of how many people-especially young people-become givers. This broad question was approached by way of two short autobiographical pieces-excerpts from Pablo Neruda's "The Lamb and the Pinecone" and Jean-Jacque Rousseau's "Reveries of the Solitary Walker," both from The Civically Engaged Reader (Great Books Foundation, 2006). Adam Davis, lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Chicago, lead facilitator of Justice Talking, and Research Associate with The Project on Civic Reflection, facilitated the conversation.

Teaching Children the Art of Giving
October 1, 2007 - Susan Crites Price addressed ways adults can teach children -- from toddlers to teens -- how to use their time, talent, and money to help others. Attendees also received a copy of Susan Crite Price's book, "The Giving Family: Raising our Children to Help Others." With dozens of ideas, activities and practical advice geared to a range of age groups, the book is filled with inspiring stories of children who have used volunteering and giving to improve their communities.

Civic Reflection
September 29, 2005 - The Family Foundations Committee held a civic reflection gathering, generously hosted by The Siragusa Foundation at The Arts Club of Chicago. Adam Davis, lead facilitator of Justice Talking and Research Associate with the Project on Civic Reflection, led the discussion. This session's reading was "Luella Miller" written by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman in 1902. The program was also supported by a grant from the Project on Civic Reflection, Valparaiso University.

Discussion addressed questions related to the many ways that individuals contribute to their communities, defining what "need" is, and the meaning of giving in the context of deep personal sacrifice.

Accountability Challenges for Family Foundations
March 23, 2005 - The Siragusa Foundation hosted a luncheon for family foundations. Janice Rodgers, Quarles and Brady LLP was present as a resource for the discussion.

Preserving the Public Trust
February 9, 2005

I. Donors Forum of Chicago's Preserving the Public Trust Initiative

a. Background. The Donors Forum launched the Initiative nearly a year ago in response to increased scrutiny of the nonprofit sector by policymakers and the media.
b. Process. The Donors Forum created a task force for the Initiative, which was charged with creating a set of principles and practices for the Illinois nonprofit sector-including grantmakers. The task force, along with a drafting committee, drafted the principles. The principles were reviewed in over a dozen listening sessions across Illinois and reflect feedback from a diverse array of nonprofit representatives, trustees and professional advisors.
c. Principles and Best Practices. The Illinois Nonprofit Principles and Best Practices were approved by the task force and were adopted in November 2004 by the Donors Forum board of directors. The next phase will include publicizing the principles to the Donors Forum membership and nonprofits across Illinois, as well as providing tools and resources to help with implementation.

II. Illinois Nonprofit Principles and Best Practices

a. Ethics go Beyond Legal Requirements. The idea behind the principles is that there are minimum standards of expected behavior-legal requirements. But ethical standards go beyond legal requirements, and those are different for every organization. This document was created to help organizations talk about various governance and operational issues, and decide what is useful, what they should use as best practice.
b. Key Elements. Key issues for all nonprofits are listed the preamble to the principles. They include respect for diversity and transparency, which is an important issue for family foundation that need to determine how much information they should make publicly available (such as tax returns, board members, finances, grantmaking process).
c. Must be Adapted to the Specific Organization. There are 10 principles followed by best practices. The best practices may have variation among organizations. They should be used in starting and continuing the conversation about governance and operational issues at foundations.
d. The Board's Role. It is very important to bring this information to the board and make them aware of the principles and practices, and specific issues for their foundation.

III. Family Foundations

a. Why should we care? It is important to make foundations as effective as possible in achieving their mission. Further, there is increased scrutiny of the sector (from the media and policymakers). Many issues receiving attention arise within family foundations, such as board compensation and travel expenses. Family foundations can set an example for the field and to policymakers so they better understand the important role of foundations.
b. Key concept: It's not our money (any more). Family foundations need to understand that the money is dedicated to charitable purposes.
c. Trust or corporation. Family foundations need to determine whether they were created as a trust or corporation.
d. Self-dealing and conflicts of interest. The principles recommend that the governing body maintain a conflict of interest policy.
e. How "professional" we want to be. At a minimum, family foundations need to follow the law. This includes following the by-laws and trust documents of the foundation.
f. Leadership continuity. This can be a unique issue for family foundations. The principles have suggested best practices for selection, responsibilities and tenure of board members.
g. Board responsibilities: what do your board members need to understand about the foundation's governance and programs to be most responsible? Important skills include knowing how nonprofit organizations work. Foundations sometimes bring in experts to talk about particular program areas of interest, or on governance issues. Many of the practices address how the board as a whole should operate, including with written code of ethics and conflict of interest policies. In addition to having these policies, the board needs to have an understanding of what actions will be taken if the policies are violated.
h. Assessment: Important for board as well as staff to ask "how effective are we in our work?" Are grantees being held to similar or different standards?
i. Other resources. The Council on Foundations adopted the Stewardship Principles for Family Foundations. The Donors Forum recently launched a Public Trust Web page on its Web site: www.donorsforum.org/publictrust that has tools and resources for implementation of the principles. The Web site will be enhanced over the upcoming months.

Generations of Giving
October 1, 2004 - Read a summary (pdf) of the Donors Forum program that featured Kelin Gersick, author of Generations of Giving: Leadership and Continuity in Family Foundations.

Increasing Philanthropic Impact: Strategies for Family Giving
November 6, 2003 - Lynette Malinger, Executive Director and Trustee, Albert J. Speh, Jr. and Claire R. Speh Foundation welcomed the program panelists for a discussion moderated by Valerie S. Lies, president and CEO, Donors Forum of Chicago. Panelists Nancy Mammel, The Mammel Foundation and program director Root2Fruit, The Evanston Community Foundation; Alfred McDougal, president, McDougal Family Foundation; and Boyd McDowell III, foundation director, The Seabury Foundation, discussed the featured topics: capacity building, collaboration and structuring your giving.

This report summarizes lessons that the panelists shared and lessons raised during the question and answer and small group discussion and feedback moderated by Suzanne Gombrich, president, The Upstart Foundation and chair of the Donors Forum Family Foundations Committee.

Mr. McDougal gave examples of McDougal Family Foundation's collaborative funding efforts that developed a teacher mentoring program in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools, the Teachers Union and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Chicago Public Schools system recently institutionalized the program, building on the foundation's strategy to improve educational outcomes for youth by addressing the professional development needs of teachers. Lessons learned about successful collaboration

• Involve all stakeholders in planning the collaborative program to get people to have shared experiences.
• Committed stakeholders can convene as a steering committee; executive leadership is essential to keep things moving forward.
• Be prepared to spend a lot of time, perhaps years, with a grantee.
• Be flexible in developing expectations and timelines.
  
• Be prepared not to take credit for any success.
• Take responsibility for solving issues that arise in order to maintain smooth implementation.
• Share what you learn; McDougal Foundation wrote a case study and shared it at a Donors Forum session.
• Publicize what doesn't work.
• Increase impact by leveraging dollars.
• Build discretionary funding into the budget to position yourself to take advantage of unforeseen opportunities and flexibility.
• Maximize your dollars through challenge grants and matching gifts.
• An accumulation of multiple small gifts can have an impact on institutions of all sizes.

Ms. Mammel discussed Root2Fruit, a capacity-building program that provides multiyear grants and opportunities for grantees to convene, helping grass roots organizations grow. Lessons learned about successful capacity building

• Involve stakeholders in decision-making to build trust and invest participants in results.
• Connect foundation and grantee to identify additional resources.
• Consider creating a grantee peer learning community to support the exchange of ideas.
• Make it easy for organizations to apply; help with application process.
• Board members can be a great resource for organizations.
• Develop materials for program replication; a kit can help others learn your approach.
• Some organizations will not succeed; those who founded the organization are sometimes the least willing to change.
• Capacity building looks different for different organizations; each organization requires a different set of skills or has different needs.
• Talk with grantees; inquire about their capacity building efforts in a variety of areas including staff, fundraising, self assessment, and planning.
• Collaborate with other funders to support great ideas; use organizational expertise to teach others.
• Identify key people needed to bring additional expertise to the organization.
• Meet with other family foundations and learning circles to exchange ideas and information.

Mr. McDowell discussed how The Seabury Foundation structured its giving and its projects in the north of Howard area. Lessons learned about structuring your giving

• Structuring giving around a geographical area, specific population, community issue or program strategy can help to focus the foundation's giving philosophy.
• Trade ideas and information between foundations and grantee organizations.
• Collaborate with local organizations; discuss and understand their concerns.
• Giving can be structured to balance the interests and priorities of family members by providing opportunities for different generations or family members living in other locations to identify their interest in the context of the foundations overall mission.
• Long term funding motivates grantees to build capacity through a multi-year commitment. Consider whether short-term or long-term funding fits your vision of serving the community.

The question and answer and small group discussions brought out other lessons learned.

1. Evaluating program impact
   • Ask yourself how much effort or money do you put into it? What will you use it for?
   • Evaluation can be used to prove your strategy's worth to someone else so the work can continue.
   • Develop specific objectives for follow up.
   • Build in a feedback loop so grantees can improve what they're doing.
   • Informal reviews in person offer opportunities to gain insight on program operations.
   • Consider requiring a report at the end of a grant.
   • It can be difficult to monitor results in distant geographic areas.
   • Review mission statement on a regular basis; consider rotating site of annual meeting.
2. Involving non-family member trustees
   • Non-family members can bring additional skills or expertise to the decision-making process as well as objectivity and reach in to the community.
3. Setting a mission statement
   • Identify who should be involved. Founders, children, outside experts can work together to create a vision for the use of funds. Hiring an outside consultant to facilitate development of a mission statement can save time and help structure a process.
   • Acknowledge that the process may take time; this can be different for different families.

Book recommendations from participants:

• The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
  
• The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism by Claire Gaudiani

Trends in Family Foundation Boards
September 12, 2002 - The Donors Forum and the Council on Foundations co-sponsored "Trends in Family Foundation Boards" featuring Karen Green, managing director of Family Foundation Services at the Council. The program focused on a profile of how family foundations are structured and operate from the latest Council on Foundations survey findings. Ms. Green presented statistical finding on the make-up and background of family foundation boards (for example, she cited that nearly 47% of family foundation boards members are direct descendants of the original donors and 41% of board members received no official training on grantmaking skills), and used this information as a launch pad for recommendations on board management. Participation of the audience ensured that the information she was sharing was relevant to the family foundations represented.

May 16, 2002 - The Family Foundations Committee hosted a program on family philanthropy featuring Virginia Esposito, president of the National Center for Family Philanthropy.

Dialogue with Donors
January 16, 2002 - In partnership with the Donors Forum nonprofit workshop program, GCH participated in this conversation with nonprofits. Panelists spoke about the dynamics of the world that nonprofits and foundations share and the issues that challenge them, including the funding priorities of local homelessness funders.

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