2019 National Forum on Family Philanthropy

Traditionally family philanthropies have been some of the most loyal funders of local community institutions, as confirmed by the 2015 Trends in Family Philanthropy study which found that 83% of family foundations nationally make general operating support grants, while 68% provide multi-year grants and 63% provide capacity-building grants. It is critical that family donors continue to invest in the long-term health and sustainability of the institutions we are asking to tackle the world’s most entrenched social problems. Starving organizations of strong strategic plans or essential technology—often viewed as overhead and therefore superfluous—actually prevents their ability to use the limited resources they do have most effectively. It is time to praise overhead, rather than fear it—and family foundations are poised to shift this mindset in the sector.