Funders are supporting sabbaticals for nonprofit leaders—and taking sabbaticals themselves—as a way to step back from professional identity, let go of routine, and restore their energy for the long haul. The Durfee Foundation has been a leader in funding nonprofit executive sabbaticals for 20 years. “Since the beginning, our board has focused on leadership and... Read More
Diana Bittner was excited. She was inspired. She was ready to learn. As a trustee of the Tracy Family Foundation (TFF), Bittner was one of seven TFF members from across the United States who converged in Phoenix, Arizona, to attend the Exponent Philanthropy’s 2015 CONNECT Conference. Bittner and her fellow TFF trustees spent three days... Read More
Legal insights provided by Arnold & Porter On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed a new tax bill into law, informally referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). Although several proposals were dropped from the legislation, the Tax Act contains a number of provisions relating to charitable giving and tax-exempt... Read More
According to a 2014 Center for Effective Philanthropy report, donor satisfaction is key for retaining donors to community foundations. Simply put, “The strongest predictors of donor satisfaction are donors’ sense of the foundation’s level of responsiveness when they need assistance and donors’ perceptions of the foundation’s impact on the community.” Many small-staffed community foundations already... Read More
One of the most sought-after goals in philanthropy is finding effective solutions to society’s problems. Foundations are well positioned to accomplish this. Free from the pressure of pleasing customers, voters, and shareholders, foundations can focus their money and knowledge on supporting people and organizations testing new approaches to pressing social and environmental issues. As many... Read More
In the 10-plus years I’ve been a consultant to foundations—and the 20-plus years I’ve been a family foundation trustee—I’ve noticed a phenomenon I’ve come to call the “trustee pendulum.” Trustees often start out very engaged in grantmaking, reviewing all grants (often to organizations they know well) and managing the grantmaking process, which is typically quite... Read More