Like cost-benefit analysis in the for-profit world, social return on investment provides guidelines that can help charitable organizations to think more strategically about outcomes and show accountability. But if SROI is to be a successful tool, analysis indicates its principles need to be applied with greater rigor.
Parents who are concerned about family harmony after their deaths are wise to address the issues of estate equalization as a key element of their estate and business planning. Most of the problems that would create disharmony among their children can be handled with careful thought and with wills, trusts and business agreements that clearly dictate...
For many entrepreneurs, the experience of selling their business may involve a loss of identity and purpose, despite the financial security that usually accompanies the sale. This paper addresses the personal challenges entrepreneurs face during the transition as well as issues created by a significant change in the nature of their wealth, from ill...
Family dynamics often play a critical role in the long-term success of family businesses, and women's relational and interpersonal skills tend to make them well-equipped to manage these issues. Effective leadership within the family business is, now more than ever, dependent on the inherent relational skills that a woman can bring to the busine...
A business transition plan should provide a good fit: for the business, for family members and for the owner. A transition road map also should provide clear instructions in the event of the owner's incapacitation or death – a sound reason to establish a plan sooner rather than later.
One of the most important aspects of a family’s legacy planning can be philanthropy. Family philanthropy can be thought of as the organized charitable giving by several members of a family to achieve a unified goal. It is more than the annual giving of one individual or married couple, though such giving is critically important in its own right. P...
The most successful family foundations are strategic about how money is given away, to whom it is given and for what purposes, and in evaluation of the programs funded and the role of the funder. This paper examines eight strategies that distinguish the most successful family foundations from the least successful ones.
Grant-making used to require the manual distribution of information, but now grant program administrators can receive, organize, manage, and distribute applications online. The author highlights the benefits of application management systems and provides guidance in selecting the right system for your organization.
Disasters bring out the urge to help, but would-be donors often are not sure about where to donate. Schwab Charitable Fund looks at the hierarchy of disaster relief, considers the importance of general disaster expertise vs. local expertise for a charity, and discusses how to encourage accountability. A targeted list of recommendations for donors i...
In addition to having an external mission, many family foundations create an internal one specifying how the foundation will function in family-building, education and the transfer of family values from one generation to the next. Foundation Source offers concrete examples of how some families are using their foundations to make a difference within...
The new health care reform legislation adds a 3.8 percent tax on net investment income for many charitable donors starting in January 2013, while not allowing charitable deductions to be used to offset the tax. This article from Hemenway & Barnes explains how an interest-free loan to a charity can provide the same tax benefits as a charitable deduc...
To realize the social benefits their donors seek, foundations must clearly define their missions, create spend policies that correspond with those missions and set investment strategies that suit those policies.
In the post-Madoff era, the foundation and non-profit sector continues to struggle with how to invest philanthropic assets most appropriately and how to ensure that boards and staff are managing investments prudently.
This first national study explores the topic of family philanthropy through the family office including opportunities and challenges, perspectives and experiences of practitioners and family members with the family office structure. This is a collaborative project of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, Threshold Group, and FOX.
While family businesses are playing an important role in the economy and studies have regularly shown that in the long-term they outperform other businesses, there is the continual challenge of succession to the next generation. An estate is built up over the generations and the family grows larger. This source of diversity is not without its chall...