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How will you use your resources to achieve your philanthropic purpose? Learn how to consider the context in which you are operating, the role you want to play within that context, and what processes you need to implement to achieve those goals within your role. This primer is the fourth in a series of seven about the Family Giving Lifecycle by the National Center for Family Philanthropy, comprising of seven inflection points and orients donors toward effective outcomes at each stage:

Effective philanthropy is a process of continual learning. An assessment plan will help you define and measure the progress of your partners, your strategy, and the governance and operations of your social impact vehicles. Find out how to create a robust learning agenda and assessment plan. This primer is the fifth in a series of seven about the Family Giving Lifecycle by the National Center for Family Philanthropy, comprising of seven inflection points and orients donors toward effective outcomes at each stage:

Teaching the joys, benefits, and responsibilities of philanthropy is often a top-down process. For most families, the starting point in encouraging a philanthropic mindset in children is to identify specific values that matter to them and to live by those values. Most important, continue to set a good example through meaningful actions and active giving plans.

Good intentions do not make for philanthropic success on their own. Blind spots cost philanthropists—and the causes they espouse—dearly. To make the most of their philanthropic dollars, donors practice due diligence. But when concepts of diversity and inclusion are added to basic due diligence, the result can create a philanthropy that is both responsive and efficient. Any philanthropist can benefit from adopting a policy of including diverse voices at all levels of their giving program. This guide aims to show how that can be done.

The way individuals are approaching philanthropy has evolved in recent years, with philanthropists taking the very best of the corporate world and adding more rigor and measurement to how they give back to social causes, reprioritizing how and where they invest, and going beyond financial contributions to direct both time and talent to their philanthropic endeavors. Against this backdrop, the emergence of the disruptive philanthropists comes to the forefront in this report to help you maximize your philanthropic impact.

This issue brief examines the kinds of decisions that family foundations often face and sets out practical, easy-to-apply guidelines for ensuring that the foundation’s decision-making methods vary appropriately, as conditions and circumstances change.

Finding a way to facilitate trust, communication, and proper preparation and development of the necessary skill sets of the next generation can be difficult and will vary from family to family. Today, many families are finding answers to these questions through a private family foundation. If you’re thinking about staring a family foundation, here are considerations to help guide the setup, as well as potential benefits for your family and the long-term preservation of your family’s wealth.