Family Ties: Embracing the Generations

Family Foundations and their trustees face special challenges to engage future generations in their work. Issues range from motivating and inspiring philanthropic youth; finding ways to communicate and listen to each other’s individual interests and values; successfully planning for succession; and preparing generations for leadership roles. Today’s mobile society adds another level of complexity to the situation. This edition of Family Ties takes a closer look at the many facets of “Embracing the Generations.”

In This Issue

• Mark Your Calendars: Fall 2007 Family Foundation Programs
• Engaging Youth in Philanthropy
• Governing from Afar
• Family Foundations: Key Facts
• The Pension Protection Act: Impact on Family Giving
• Upcoming Programs

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Fall 2007 Family Foundation Programs

RSVP to programs@sdgrantmakers.org.

Moderator: Peg Eddy, CFP(r), President, Creative Capital Management Inc.
Panel: To be Announced

Sponsors:  McCarthy Family Foundation, Patricia and Christopher Weil Family Foundation, and Toby Wells Foundation

Planning for the future of a family foundation is a journey. This interactive session is designed to learn from the experiences of family foundation trustees who have traveled down different paths. A panel of family foundation representatives will share their personal stories and address such questions as:

• How do you deal with differences in values and personality?
• How do you involve children in the foundation their family has created?
• If there isn’t a next generation, do you engage non-family members, sunset the foundation or ???
• Do you need to address succession when you have just established your foundation, and are focused on day-to-day operations?
• What if giving area interests are different between family members and generations?

Family Foundation Exchange (FFE)
September 11, 2007
10:00am–12:00pm
Location: Northern Trust, San Diego, CA

Topic: Community Foundations and Donor-Advised Funds: Overhead and Administrative Expenses

Facilitators: Murray Galinson, Tim McCarthy, and Kit-Victoria Wells

The Family Foundation Exchange serves as a vehicle to explore new avenues of grantmaking, gain skills and knowledge, and find support and encouragement among peers.

A special Family Foundation session will be offered. Speaker: Judy Belk, Senior Vice President, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

The conference plenary speakers are Peter Hero, Senior Advisor and former President of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Albert Ruesga, Vice-President of The Meyer Foundation and chair of Hispanics in Philanthropy (and philanthropy blogger). Other speakers will include: Steve Gunderson, President & CEO, Council on Foundations; Sandra R. Hernández, MD, Chief Executive Officer, San Francisco Foundation; and Torie Osborn, Special Philanthropic Liaison to the Mayor of LA. Click here for more information.

Engaging Youth in Philanthropy

The Rust Family Foundation in Virginia has made it their business to enlighten the youth of Loudoun County about grantmaking and philanthropy. The foundation is funding a grant-giving program for local high school students (overseen by the Piedmont Community Foundation). These students are given the task of reading each proposal and deciding who will receive grants. The budding grantmakers gain skills in all aspects of grantmaking: grantmaking terminology, interviewing prospective grantees and identifying the needs of their community. Click here for more information.

For more ways to involve young people in philanthropy, please link to these resources:

• 2007 Family Foundation Conference: Building Communities, Council on Foundations: From its conference in February 2007, we have selected resource materials from two sessions that provide relevant information on “the next generation” and “family succession.”
  1. Click here for Creating Change Through Family Philanthropy: The Next Generation.
  2. Click here for "Where Does the Money Go?"
  3. Click here for "How Young People Are a Part of Family Philanthropy."
  4. Click here for “Dynamic Succession: A Family Systems Approach." All materials © 2007 Council on Foundations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced with permission.
• Resource Generation focuses on helping wealthy youth explore the world of philanthropy while becoming engaged in giving circles.  They also help youth use their financial resources in a way that supports their interests.

• YouthGive is a non-profit educational organization to help educate and enable children, youth and families to easily donate to charities they care about in a safe and secure manner. YouthGive helps grow the next generation of givers and global citizens, believing that everyone can be a philanthropist.
  

• Kids Care Clubs mission is to develop compassion and the spirit of service and philanthropy in elementary and middle school aged youth. They provide young people with hands-on volunteer opportunities to help others in their local and global communities.
  

• Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers – Spring 2007 Family Ties
  This newsletter focuses on “Cultivating the Talents of the Next Generation.”  We are sharing the entire publication, as it is full of information including: ways to engage children in philanthropy; topics of conversation parents can have with their children to open the dialogue on understanding and developing (philanthropic) values; and a collection of resources for further learning and exploration.
  

Governing from Afar

How does a foundation effectively govern when family members are scattered all around the country, or even the world?  “Governing from Afar,”an article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, explores how several foundations have dealt with this. As they creatively addressed logistical problems, they still have to confront the age-old issue of where to focus their giving--abide by the original wishes expressed by the founder or expand giving to include their new communities?

Another helpful resource: The September 2006 issue of National Center for Family Philanthropy's Family Giving News addresses the topic of “Geographic Dispersion: Opportunities for Far-Flung Families.”  The author presents how a challenge can become an opportunity for a family in identifying ways to successfully work together as family members disperse to various locations around the world.

Family Foundations: Key Facts

The Foundation Center recently published its findings on the 2005 giving patterns, assets, and areas of interest in the family foundation sector. Findings include:

• Over twenty-two percent growth in the number of family foundations from 2001 to 2005.
• More than three-fifths of family foundations reported less than $1 million in assets.
• Top funding areas in terms of grant dollars: 1. Education, 2. Health, 3. Arts and Culture, and 4. Human Services.

Click here (pdf) for more information.

The Pension Protection Act: Impact on Family Giving 

In August 2006, the Pension Protection Act (also known as H.R. 4) became law.  One year later, National Center for Family Philanthropy's Family Giving News takes another look at the impacts of the legislation on giving families. Notably, family foundations have welcomed the IRA charitable rollover provision, but are struggling to comply with other requirements in the act.

BREAKING NEWS—Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee to Hold July 24th Hearing on Tax-exempt Organizations
The subcommittee will hold an overview hearing on foundations and charities on Tuesday, July 24.  Representatives from the Council on Foundations, along with the Internal Revenue Service, Government Accountability Office, and Independent Sector will testify. The hearing announcement noted that there have been a number of recent legislative and administrative developments that affect foundations and charities, such as the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) and the draft re-designed Form 990.

Please note, the Oversight Subcommittee will accept written comments on the tax-exempt provisions included in the PPA until Tuesday, August 7, 2007 (the subcommittee extended its original deadline for comments to accommodate the hearing). If you have already submitted comments in response to this request, your comments will be automatically included in the record for the hearing. Click here to view the subcommittee’s full press statement on the hearing, which includes instructions on how to submit comments.

Upcoming SDG Programs

Third Thursdays Breakfast Series (Nosh, Network, Knowledge)
July 19, Aug 16, Sept 20, Oct 18, Nov 15
8:30-10:30am
Locations:
United Way of San Diego County (July)  
4699 Murphy Canyon Rd, SD
The San Diego Foundation (August-November)

July 19 Topic: Accountability in Action: A Self-Assessment Workshop. Click here for more information about the breakfast series.

Guiding Principles Task Force Meeting
July 23, 2007
8:30-11:00am
Location: AMN Healthcare, 12400 High Bluff Drive, SD

Corporate Giving that Matters: Achieving Strategic Impact
July 31, 2007
8:30-10:30am
Location: Time Warner Cable, 10450 Pacific Center Court, San Diego, CA 92121

Capacity Building Workshop: From Concept to Practice
August 3, 2007
10:00am-1:00pm
Location: The California Endowment, 600 W. Broadway, Suite 1250, SD

Guest Speaker: Barbara Webster Hawkins, Senior Program Officer, The California Endowment

Education Funders
August 8, 2007
8:30-10:30am
Location: The San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego, CA 92106

Nonprofit Leadership Transitions: How Funders Can Help
August 29, 2007
2:00-4:00pm
Location: TBA

Family Foundation Exchange (FFE)
September 11, 2007
10:00am – 12:00pm
Location: Northern Trust, San Diego, CA 92122

Topic: Community Foundations and Donor-Advised Funds: Overhead and Administrative Expenses. Facilitators: Murray Galinson, Tim McCarthy, and Kit-Victoria Wells.
The Family Foundation Exchange serves as a vehicle to explore new avenues of grantmaking, gain skills and knowledge, and find support and encouragement among peers.

Moderator: Peg Eddy, CFP(r), President, Creative Capital Management Inc.
Panel: To be Announced
Sponsors:  McCarthy Family Foundation, Patricia and Christopher Weil Family Foundation, and Toby Wells Foundation

SDG 2007 Annual Conference
Strategic Grantmaking: Inspiration to Implementation
November 8, 2007
Location: NTC Promenade

Save the date! Among our expert speakers are Peter Hero, Senior Advisor and former President of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Albert Ruesga, Vice President of The Meyer Foundation and chair of Hispanics in Philanthropy. Click here for more information and click here (pdf) to download a sponsorship form.

Click here for more information about all of these SDG programs. All programs are free for SDG members except where indicated. To RSVP, please call (619) 744-2180 or email programs@sdgrantmakers.org.

Alliance for Nonprofit Management Annual Conference
July 18-20, 2007
Atlanta, GA

BoardSource Leadership Forum: Shaping the Next Generation of Governance
October 12-13, 2007
San Francisco, CA

SCG Fundamentals of Effective Grantmaking
October 19, 26, and November 9, 2007
Los Angeles, CA

Independent Sector Annual Conference
October 21-23, 2007
Los Angeles, CA

Grantmakers in Aging Annual Conference
October 31-November 2, 2007
San Diego, CA

Foundations on the Hill 2008
March 4-5, 2008
Washington, DC

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FUNDRAISING STIPULATION:  SDG was developed with grantmakers (staff and trustees) in mind so they could talk candidly with their peers about the challenges they face.  With that in mind, we wish to impress upon members and potential members that fundraising or marketing is not allowed at any of SDG’s programs, meetings, or other events.