Family Foundations

The Council on Foundations defines a family foundation as one whose funds are derived from members of a single family, though this is not a legal term and has no precise definition. The Council on Foundations suggests that family foundations have at least one family member serving as an officer or board member of the foundation and, as the donor, that individual (or a relative) must play a significant role in governing and/or managing the foundation. Most family foundations are run by family members who serve as trustees or directors on a voluntary basis. In many cases, second- and third-generation descendants of the original donors manage the foundation.

Family foundations make up over half of all private (family, corporate, independent, and operating) foundations, or 40,456 out of approximately 73,764 foundations (Foundation Center, 2011). Family foundations make up approximately one-third of the Council’s membership.

Family foundations range in asset size from a few hundred thousand dollars to more than $1 billion. The holdings of family foundations total approximately $294 billion, or about 44 percent of all foundation holdings of $662 billion. Despite this, three out of five family foundations hold assets of less than $1 million. Family foundations gave away approximately $21.3 billion in grants in 2011 (The Foundation Center, 2011).

Below is everything on our site for family foundations. Due to the large number of resources on our website, we highly recommend you use the site navigation or the search feature to find what you are looking for.

Compounding Impact: Mission Investing by U.S. Foundations

External Resource
This report by FSG Social Impact Advisors provides the first comprehensive analysis of mission investing by U.S. foundations and analyzes the activity of 92 U.S. foundations, which have made a combined total of $2.3 billion of mission investments.

Mission Possible: Emerging Opportunities for Mission-Connected Investment

External Resource
From the New Economics Foundation, Mission Possible considers how foundations might more effectively use a proportion of their endowment in support of the change they set out to create – their mission. Starting from the premise that paths are made by walking, it explores the potential of ‘mission-…

Getting Started with Evaluation

Fundamentals
As different as foundations can be from one another, they all share the need to know what works and, especially, what works well. The more foundations can show how their grants are making a difference, the more value they can bring to their communities. To know what works, foundations must…

Getting Started With Social Media

Fundamentals
Social media is an increasingly prevalent part of our world. Whether it’s on the news, sitting in traffic, or talking with colleagues, you’ll be hard-pressed to avoid mention of Facebook or Twitter. Is there a good way for your foundation to become involved? Perhaps your board chair suggested that…

Funding a Dissolving Nonprofit

Legal Compliance Guidance
Question: Our foundation has been funding a local nonprofit for the last ten years. The nonprofit has one full-time employee and an annual operating budget of about $300,000. The nonprofit recently requested a $50,000 grant for operating expenditures or it will have to close down immediately. Even…

First 100 Days of the Program Officer: Advice from the Field

Fundamentals
Note to the Program Officer The scope of the program officer job description has evolved. Where it was once primarily tactical—reviewing funding requests and developing requests for proposals—the program officer’s role more commonly includes strategic activities. Program officers must master three…

Grant Evaluation Approaches and Methods

Fundamentals
One of the greatest challenges encountered in thinking about evaluation is that there usually is more than one acceptable way to evaluate a given grant, project, or program. The form that an evaluation takes and the products that it yields will depend on choices made about the following issues…

Elimination of Advance Ruling Period for Public Charities

Question: A potential grantee submitted to us an IRS letter of determination that expired on August 30, 2008. The grantee said that, despite the expiration date, the letter of determination is treated as the grantee's permanent ruling. Is this true?   Answer: Yes. On September 9, 2008, the…

Sample Disclosure and Confidentiality Statement for Staff and Board Members

Sample Document
You can use this document to guide the development of your disclosure and confidentiality statement for staff and board of directors.

Calculating the Five Percent Payout

Legal Compliance Guidance
What is the five percent payout requirement? Each year, every private foundation must make eligible charitable expenditures that equal or exceed approximately five percent of the value of its endowment. The purpose behind the minimum payout requirement contained in Internal Revenue Code Section…

Building a Successful CEO-Board Chair Relationship

Fundamentals
Both the board and CEO advance each foundation’s mission. They hold different responsibilities, but they need to support and balance each other. The board chair-CEO partnership is crucial to your foundation’s effectiveness, as well as to your success as a CEO. As one CEO said, “To have a…

Sample Board of Directors Election and Retention Policy

Sample Document
This is a sample document to guide the development of your Board of Directors election and retention policy.

Disaster Philanthropy

Foundations often play an essential role in disaster relief and recovery. Not only do foundations provide grants and help raise money, they also use their experience and expertise to help civic leaders and responders distribute aid and rebuild communities. Our disaster grantmaking resource page…

India: My Five-Star Experience in Uttar Pradesh

Blistering sunlight broils our small group as we gingerly perch around the edges of the raised bed our hosts have set out for us in front of their hut in Godha Village. We’ve come to visit a few of the 100 ultra-poor women in rural Uttar Pradesh recently employed by our local partner, a social-…

How a Private Foundation Can Use "Friends of" Organizations

Legal Compliance Guidance
U.S. private foundations are increasingly involved in international grantmaking. One way for a private foundation to give overseas is to make grants directly to foreign charities. Many U.S. private foundations, however, may want to consider giving overseas indirectly through a "Friends of"…

Section 4947(a)(2) Split-Interest Trust Reporting

Legal Compliance Guidance
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) has introduced filing requirements for split-interest trusts such as charitable remainder trusts and pooled income funds. Which returns are affected? These requirements apply to returns for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2006. What are the…
Subscribe to Family Foundations