I invited my friends Lisa and Mary to join. I don’t remember what I called the club or what it was supposed to be about. But I do remember exactly what happened when they arrived at my house.

They walked in, looked at me, and waited.

And I realized…I had no plan.
No agenda. No activity. No idea what I was doing.

What I did have was an immediate wave of panic and embarrassment.
I suddenly felt completely exposed and inadequate. The feeling stuck with me for years.

Fast forward a few decades and I’m in a client meeting.

A high-level philanthropy leader is looking to me for guidance. And even though I’m a seasoned philanthropy advisor, I’d feel this flicker of self-doubt. Not often. But enough to notice.

And eventually, I realized something important:

That eight-year-old girl was still showing up in the room.

Not literally, of course. But the shadow of that moment, the belief that I might be unprepared, the fear that I didn’t have a “real” plan, the worry I’d be found out…was lingering underneath the surface.

It wasn’t until I saw this clearly that I could start releasing it.

Why This Matters for Philanthropy Leaders

Wealth doesn’t erase these shadows. In fact, it can amplify them.

I’ve worked with ultra-high-net-worth individuals and foundation leaders who carry their own childhood echoes into the room:

• Fear of disappointing others
• Guilt about having too much
• Uncertainty about being taken seriously
• Worry that “the bottom could drop out” at any moment
• A sense of needing to earn their right to lead

And here’s the thing. These patterns don’t always show up as emotions.
They show up as energy:

• Saying too much or not enough in a meeting
• Overcomplicating simple decisions
• Avoiding strategic moves because something feels “off”
• Getting stuck in cycles of overthinking
• Holding back from bold ideas out of fear they’ll seem silly or “too much”

You Can’t Lead Powerfully from a Place of Unconscious Doubt

Whether you’re advising a family, leading a corporate giving program, or directing your own giving, you bring your whole self into the room. Even the parts you think you’ve outgrown.

And those parts—the ones you haven’t yet acknowledged—can quietly run the show.

That’s why part of evolving as a philanthropy leader and donor isn’t just about better strategies or clearer goals. It’s about recognizing and releasing the shadows that keep you from showing up fully.

It could be the eight-year-old club founder who didn’t have a plan.
It could be the teen who learned to keep their voice down.
It could be the parent who felt judged for giving “too much.”

Once you see it, you can change it.

The Lesson Here?

As a philanthropy leader if you’ve ever walked into a decision feeling uncertain, even when you “should” feel confident, ask yourself:

• What part of me is really feeling this way?
• Where did that part learn to doubt itself?
• And is it still true now?

Acknowledging the energy you bring into the room is one of the most overlooked tools for philanthropic leadership and success.

Because when your energy aligns with your clarity, your giving becomes unstoppable.

If you’re ready to stop second-guessing and start making bold, effective decisions in your philanthropy, I offer a 12-month advisory partnership called the Philanthropy Impact Accelerator. It’s designed for ultra-high-net-worth donors and philanthropy leaders who want expert guidance, clear priorities, and fast progress—without the overwhelm. You’ll get direct access to me as your trusted advisor, two strategy days to jumpstart your work, and ongoing support to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Spots are limited—book a call or email me if you’d like to explore whether it’s a fit.

So why approach your philanthropy without a strategy?

It doesn’t matter if you’re leading a family foundation, a corporate giving program, a community foundation, or giving personally. Too often, funders engage in philanthropy reactively—responding to issues, crises, or donation requests without a clear, strategic philanthropy plan to guide their decisions.

At first glance, it feels generous. Responsive. Even noble.

But over time, the hidden costs of giving without a strategic philanthropy framework become undeniable.

The Truth: Good Intentions Are Not Enough in Strategic Philanthropy

In my book Delusional Altruism, I explain how the biggest obstacle philanthropists face isn’t a lack of generosity—it’s unintentionally getting in their own way.

Without a strategic philanthropy approach:

• We scramble at the end of the year to meet donation deadlines.
• We say yes to nonprofits out of guilt, habit, or convenience.
• We renew grants without reevaluating their true impact.

All types of donors fall into this trap:

• A corporate foundation might fund community projects that make good headlines but have no real link to their mission or long-term strategy.
• A community foundation might juggle dozens of donor-advised interests, ending up with a diluted and disjointed grants portfolio.
• A family foundation might renew the same grantees year after year without reassessing whether those investments align with their evolving goals.

Have you seen yourself—or your organization—somewhere in there?

No judgment! You’re in good company.

Without Strategic Philanthropy, Generosity Loses Its Power

The real cost of reactive, ad-hoc giving isn’t always obvious at first. But it eventually shows up:

• You feel scattered and stretched thin.
• Staff, board, and family members grow frustrated, operating reactively instead of strategically.
• Grantees feel unsupported and uncertain about your priorities.
• Impact becomes diffuse, harder to measure, and ultimately less transformational.

Without a strategic philanthropy plan, even the best intentions can erode the very change you set out to create.

Strategic Philanthropy Is Your Anchor

Here’s the good news:

Strategic philanthropy doesn’t slow you down—it accelerates your impact.

Whether you’re developing a family giving plan, a foundation strategy, or a sunset plan for spending down assets, a clear roadmap:

• Saves time
• Reduces decision fatigue
• Minimizes stress
• Dramatically amplifies your effectiveness

Strategic philanthropy anchors you when life feels chaotic.

It empowers you to say “yes” with clarity and “no” without guilt.

Most importantly, it transforms your giving from reactive responses to intentional, future-focused investments in change.

It’s Never Too Late—or Too Early—to Embrace Strategic Philanthropy

You don’t need a 300-page strategy document or months of planning meetings to start embracing strategic philanthropy.

In the coming weeks, I’ll share simple ways to shift from reactive to strategic giving—whether you’re leading a foundation, overseeing a corporate giving program, or giving personally.

But if you can’t wait—and you’re ready to create a strategic philanthropy plan right now—I’d be happy to help.

Schedule a complimentary call and let’s explore the best next steps for you and your organization.

Because the world doesn’t need you to simply give more.

It needs you to give with clarity, courage, and purpose.

Here’s how.

As a foundation CEO or donor, you’re no stranger to upheaval. The recent stock market plunge—triggered by escalating tariffs—is just the latest in a series of destabilizing events. Nonprofits face rising demand, shrinking safety nets, staffing shortages, and funding delays, all while your board and staff feel the strain. This month’s volatility only amplifies the pressure.

Wondering how to respond? Here are seven actionable steps to lead with clarity and purpose—starting today.

1. Anchor Yourself in Mission and Metrics

In uncertain times, clarity is your superpower. Revisit your foundation’s mission—has it shifted? Likely not. Check your financials—have they changed significantly? Maybe, but don’t rush to react. Ground your team in purpose, not panic. Lead from your core values, not fleeting headlines.

2. Align with Your Board—Start with the Chair

Don’t wait for the next meeting. Call your board chair to sync on the current landscape and your response. Then, update the full board with a concise, confident message: market insights, field observations, and your steady commitment to grantees. Clear communication builds trust.

3. Steady Your Staff with Reassurance

Your team might be anxious about shifting priorities or cutbacks. A quick all-hands meeting or email can calm nerves. Acknowledge the moment’s weight, affirm their vital role, and prioritize their well-being. Steady leadership lets them focus on what matters.

4. Check In with Grantees—Offer Flexibility

Reach out: “How are you holding up? How can we help?” Grantees are juggling increased needs and reduced resources. Small moves—like faster payments, extended deadlines, or unrestricted grants—signal trust and provide stability when they need it most.

5. Stress-Test Your Strategy, Don’t Scrap It

Your strategic plan isn’t obsolete, but it’s worth a quick review. Ask: Do recent economic or policy shifts demand tweaks? Which priorities still stand? Adjustments now can sharpen your focus without losing momentum. Resilience is the goal.

6. Lead Out Loud—Show Steady Presence

Silence can feel like retreat. Share a brief, public message—via LinkedIn, email, or newsletter—reaffirming your commitment to grantees and goals. Your visible, values-driven leadership reassures partners and inspires confidence in a shaky landscape.

7. Carve Out Time to Think Strategically

Reactive leadership breeds overwhelm. Schedule an hour of uninterrupted reflection. Ask: What do our partners need? How can I model calm? Clarity starts with stillness—prioritize it.

The Bottom Line: Focus Is Your Strength

You can’t control markets or crises, but you can lead with purpose. Your calm steadies your staff. Your clarity aligns your board. Your trust empowers grantees. You’re built for this.

Let’s Connect

How are you navigating this moment? What’s working—or where are you stuck?

Being a philanthropy leader can feel isolating in turbulent times. If you need a sounding board or a plan to cut through the noise, I’m here. Schedule a call with me to talk strategy.

I’m seeing a troubling trend: wealth management firms offering “free” succession planning services to foundations. Not as a gift but as a strategy to secure assets under management. On the surface, it sounds generous. But when the person advising your family on one of your most meaningful decisions is also trying to win your portfolio, you have to ask: whose interests are being served?

Succession planning is about more than leadership. It’s about timing, relationships, legacy, and trust. It deserves independent, unconflicted guidance.

A family foundation recently approached me about helping them with succession planning. They care deeply about their mission and understand that navigating leadership transitions requires thoughtfulness and courage.

Then they told me they were also considering a large wealth management firm offering similar services—for free. The catch? The services were only free if the foundation invested its assets with the firm.

In other words, the consulting was the bait. The real goal was assets under management (AUM).

To be fair, some wealth management firms offer strong philanthropic guidance. I’ve met advisors who understand foundations, family dynamics, and governance structures. But when advice is offered as a hook to win financial assets, it introduces a subtle yet serious conflict of interest.

And if you’re not paying close attention, it can cost far more than a consulting fee.

Free Isn’t Always Free

In my experience helping family foundations through succession planning, there’s often a turning point. The family begins by thinking about leadership transitions—and ends up seriously considering whether they want to continue in perpetuity or sunset the foundation within the next 5 to 10 years.

That’s a courageous conversation. But it’s also one a firm with a financial stake in managing your assets may be reluctant to support.

Would they encourage sunsetting if it meant less AUM? Would they challenge the executive director to consider stepping back or raise red flags about family dynamics, next-generation readiness, or risks to your mission if doing so risked disrupting the client relationship?

Or will they stay quiet, keep the peace, and keep the account?

These are not abstract risks. They’re real patterns I’ve seen. Families following advice shaped by asset retention rather than bold, mission-driven decision-making.

And the longer you delay honest conversations, the harder it becomes to change course later.

You Deserve Unbiased Guidance

Succession planning—when done right—isn’t easy. It involves real conversations about leadership, identity, values, legacy, family relationships, power, and trust. You need someone in the room who can ask the hard questions, facilitate the real dialogue, and help you uncover what’s beneath the surface.

And you need to know that their only incentive is your success, not your portfolio.

When I advise families and foundation leaders, I’m not trying to upsell a financial product or maintain a revenue stream. I’m there to guide you through complex, often emotional decisions with clarity, honesty, and care. If we determine that sunsetting your foundation is the most powerful way to achieve your mission, I’ll support you. If your adult children aren’t ready to take the reins, I’ll tell you. If I see risks you’re not talking about, I’ll name them.

That’s the kind of objectivity you deserve.

What’s the Real Cost?

“Free” advice isn’t always free. When an advisor’s compensation depends on your investment account, their guidance isn’t neutral. It’s filtered—consciously or not—through the lens of retention and risk avoidance.

So before you accept that no-cost offer, pause.

Ask yourself:

• Whose interests are being prioritized?
• What important conversations might be avoided?
• What decisions might be influenced by financial incentives—not family values?

Because your foundation’s future is too important to hand off to someone whose job depends on keeping your assets.

And your legacy deserves more than a discounted service.

Want to talk through your foundation’s succession planning needs?

I’d be happy to learn more about where you are in the process and explore how I can help. Schedule a call with me today.

Everyone’s talking about how funders need to adapt in these uncertain times. They’re reassessing strategy, shifting funding priorities, and navigating an increasingly volatile landscape.

But what almost no one is talking about is what happens when a key leader—your Executive Director, board chair, or the family matriarch—suddenly steps away in the middle of all this turbulence.

Because it will happen. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point—planned or unplanned—your foundation will face a leadership transition.

The only question is: Will you be prepared, or will you be scrambling?

Why Foundation Succession Planning Is More Than an Emergency Measure

Many boards and executive teams assume that foundation succession planning simply means having someone ready to step in if the Executive Director resigns. That’s a dangerously incomplete view.

A comprehensive foundation succession planning strategy:

• Strengthens the entire leadership pipeline—not just the top role. Who’s ready to lead at every level?
• Prepares the board for decision-making clarity—so they don’t waste months in a hiring or transition limbo.
• Ensures strategic continuity—so your funding priorities don’t derail during a leadership shift.
• Strengthens your foundation for the future—a well-planned transition enhances governance, operations, and long-term impact.
• Maintains trust with grantees & partners—so your absence of leadership doesn’t create instability in the field.

The biggest mistake funders make? Waiting too long to have this conversation.

The Best Foundations Prioritize Succession Planning Before a Crisis

The worst time to figure out a foundation succession planning strategy? In the middle of a leadership crisis.

The best time? When things are running smoothly.

But let’s be honest—many philanthropists avoid this topic because:

• Executive Directors worry that discussing succession could push them out before they’re ready.
• Boards don’t want to imply it’s time for the ED to leave.
• No one wants to talk about their own potential death or incapacity.
• They assume they’ll figure it out when the time comes.

Here’s the reality: Ignoring foundation succession planning doesn’t make the need go away—it only makes the transition harder when it happens.

What You Need to Do Now

1. Stop thinking of foundation succession planning as an uncomfortable conversation. It’s a strategic necessity. The strongest foundations make it a regular part of governance—not a last-minute discussion.
2. Assess your leadership pipeline. Who, beyond the ED, is essential to your foundation’s stability? Do you have a plan for board succession? How might additional family members get involved?
3. Talk to someone who has helped foundations navigate this before. Because foundation succession planning isn’t just about replacing a leader—it’s about ensuring your foundation thrives through transition.

Let’s Talk About Your Foundation Succession Plan

I advise philanthropic families and foundation leaders on creating comprehensive foundation succession planning strategies that don’t just protect against disruption—but actually strengthen their organizations.

Schedule a call with me today to ensure your foundation is prepared for whatever comes next.

The world is changing faster than ever. In an era of political turbulence, economic volatility, AI-driven disruption, and unprecedented scientific breakthroughs, philanthropy must evolve. For ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) donors and foundation leaders, the old rules of philanthropy no longer apply.

Uncertainty isn’t an excuse to retreat—it’s a call to adapt. The most successful philanthropists aren’t waiting for stability to return; they’re evolving their strategies right now to ensure their giving remains impactful, agile, and future-proof.

What We’ve Learned from Past Disruptions

Throughout history, philanthropy has had to adapt in times of upheaval:

• The Great Depression led to new models of social welfare funding.
• Post-WWII philanthropy helped rebuild war-torn nations and fuel global development.
• The 2008 financial crisis forced foundations to rethink endowment spending and economic resilience.
• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated shifts toward unrestricted funding and crisis-response giving.

Each time, philanthropy had to evolve—or risk irrelevance. Today, we face another major inflection point. The question is: Are you ready?

Key Trends Reshaping Philanthropy Right Now

1. The Need for Agility & Adaptability:

   The most effective funders are those who regularly reassess their strategies in light of emerging challenges and opportunities. Philanthropy must become more flexible and responsive, ensuring it can pivot quickly when needed. This means looking at current strategies with fresh eyes and asking: What’s changed? How will it impact our work? Do we need to adjust?

2. Global Governance Shifts & Political Uncertainty:

   As governments grapple with economic and political instability, philanthropy is playing a crucial role in preserving democracy and civic participation. Leading funders are supporting policy innovation, independent journalism, and efforts to safeguard democratic institutions, recognizing that political uncertainty affects all areas of society, including philanthropy itself.

3. The Redefinition of Wealth & Legacy:

   Wealth is no longer just about financial assets—it’s about influence, leadership, and impact. The next generation of UHNW families wants to align their giving with personal values and societal change. This requires a shift toward holistic wealth stewardship, where philanthropy is integrated with investment strategies, business leadership, and policy engagement to create lasting influence.

4. Overcoming Fear & Scarcity Mindset:

   Uncertainty often causes funders to slow down, delay decisions, or hold back resources. However, history shows that those who act boldly during times of crisis create the greatest impact. The key is shifting from a scarcity mindset (protecting assets at all costs, feeling too small to make a difference) to an abundance mindset (leveraging resources to drive meaningful change).

5. The Acceleration of AI & Automation:

   AI is transforming industries and decision-making at an unprecedented pace. Smart philanthropists are not only funding AI ethics, workforce transitions, and digital literacy but also experimenting with AI themselves—using tools like ChatGPT to gain firsthand understanding. Many funders I talk to have never personally engaged with AI, leading to skepticism or inaction. Those who take the time to learn are better positioned to make informed funding decisions and ensure philanthropy keeps pace with innovation.

6. Scientific Leaps in Energy & Space Exploration:

   Breakthroughs in clean energy, biotechnology, and space exploration are reshaping the future. Forward-thinking philanthropists are funding renewable energy solutions, sustainable resource management, and space-related innovations to ensure these advancements remain accessible and ethical. As humanity pushes the boundaries of what’s possible, philanthropy can play a role in ensuring these innovations benefit society rather than deepen inequalities.

How to Future-Proof Your Philanthropy

1. Shift from Reactive Giving to Adaptive Giving:

   “We’ve always done it this way” is not a strategy. Instead of waiting for the crises to stop, adapt. Review your current strategy and ask: What changed in the world, and how does it impact our work?  Do we need to adjust our approach to stay relevant?

2. Expand Your Definition of Impact:

   Look beyond traditional grantmaking—consider impact investing, policy influence, and funding public-private partnerships. Regardless of what you fund—such as the arts, early childhood education, or democracy and civic engagement—there are ways to align your work with broader societal shifts to maximize impact.

3. Move Faster:

   Most funders move too slowly, missing windows of opportunity to create change. Increase the speed of your giving by reducing bureaucracy, trusting your grantee partners, and prioritizing responsiveness over perfection.

4. Invest in People, Not Just Projects:

   The most successful philanthropists fund leaders, movements, and networks that can adapt over time rather than rigid initiatives that may become obsolete.

Final Thought: The Philanthropists Who Lead, Thrive

This is a moment of great uncertainty—but also great possibility. Those who cling to outdated models of giving and living will see their impact shrink. Those who embrace evolution will shape the future. Which will you choose?

Want to explore how to future-proof your giving? I offer a complimentary, one-on-one strategy conversation to help you assess your current approach and explore how to adapt for the future. Schedule a call with me today!

Are you feeling paralyzed by uncertainty? It’s easy to get caught in a cycle of “wait and see.” But in philanthropy, inaction can be just as detrimental as a misstep.

I’ve recently spoken with many foundation CEOs, board members, and philanthropists who are frozen, unable to move forward. They’re delaying critical decisions, waiting for a hypothetical “clarity” about the impact of the Trump administration that may never arrive. This “deer-in-the-headlights” syndrome is a dangerous trap, and it’s time to knock it off!

Why Planning Matters, No Matter What:

Let’s be clear: life throws curveballs. Political climates change, economic tides shift, and unexpected events occur. But your philanthropic goals shouldn’t be held up by these variables.

• Succession Planning: If your executive director is nearing retirement, a succession plan is non-negotiable, regardless of who occupies the presidential office.
• Strategic Giving: Want to be more strategic with your giving? A strategic plan provides focus and purpose, irrespective of allowing you to navigate current events.
• Intentional Family Giving: To give with intention, a family giving plan is
  essential, no matter the global climate.

The Power of a Plan

A plan provides clarity and direction. It aligns your team, optimizes resources, and ensures everyone works together toward a shared goal. Without a plan, you’re unsure if you’re even heading in the right direction.

Taking Action:

1. Create Your Plan Now: Don’t wait. Within the next month, develop your plan based on the information currently available, whether it’s starting a foundation, sunsetting one, or crafting a corporate giving strategy.
2. Identify Top Priorities: Pinpoint your top three implementation priorities and start taking action immediately.
3. Regular Check-Ins: Schedule regular meetings (every 4-8 weeks) to
   review progress and make necessary adjustments. Ask yourselves:
   1. What progress have we made?
   2. Has anything changed that requires adjustments?
   3. What adjustments should we make?
   4. Embrace Flexibility: Plans are meant to be adaptable. Expect changes
      and make adjustments and course corrections as needed.

Don’t Let Fear Win:

Those who want you to be afraid, to freeze, are counting on your inaction. But you won’t let it happen! You will create plans, implement them, and adapt as needed.

If you need help putting that plan together and looking past the uncertainty that’s paralyzing you, then email me for a free consultation, and let’s figure it out together.

Kris Putnam-Walkerly

One of the most urgent threats to democracy is Project 2025, a conservative plan that outlines a significant restructuring of the U.S. government, designed to centralize executive power and undermine critical rights and protections. Even if tomorrow’s election leads to a favorable outcome, efforts will continue to implement this agenda in the years ahead, making it essential that we, as philanthropy leaders and donors, remain dedicated to counteracting this threat.

Learn More About Project 2025

If you want to learn more about Project 2025 and its implications for democracy, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, education, and more, I recommend reading these detailed analyses:

• Ms. Magazine: “The 22 Scariest Lines We Found in Project 2025’s 900-Page ‘Mandate for Leadership’” – This analysis highlights specific excerpts from the document that pose threats to reproductive health care, protections against workplace discrimination, environmental protections, public education, and much more.
• The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): “Project 2025, Explained” – The ACLU provides a detailed examination of Project 2025, describing it as a radical restructuring of the executive branch that threatens civil rights and liberties.

Inspiring Foundations Working to Strengthen Democracy

There are many incredible efforts underway by foundations that are leading the charge to protect and strengthen democracy. Here are a few examples to inspire your own work and provide valuable resources to inform your grantmaking:

• The Hewlett Foundation’s U.S. Democracy Program: Committed to ensuring trustworthy elections and strengthening national governing institutions.
• The MacArthur Foundation’s Democracy Initiatives: Supports efforts to strengthen American democracy, including funding non-profit media and civic engagement initiatives.
• The Democracy Frontlines Fund: Focused on funding Black-led organizing efforts to build sustainable local power and amplify the voices of disenfranchised voters.
• The Democracy Fund: Supports initiatives to ensure a resilient and inclusive democracy, including voter engagement and election security.
• The Libra Foundation: Provides grants to social justice organizations working to strengthen political power and advance liberation for communities of color.
• The Ford Foundation: Committed to challenging inequality and promoting civic engagement, the Ford Foundation works to build inclusive democracy by supporting efforts that increase voter participation, enhance government accountability, and ensure fair representation.

How You Can Get Involved

If you’re wondering how you and your foundation can join the fight to strengthen democracy, here are some ways to get involved and contribute:

• State Infrastructure Fund (SIF): A donor collaborative managed by NEO Philanthropy that supports state-level efforts to enhance civic engagement and protect voting rights.
• Four Freedoms Fund (FFF): Also under NEO Philanthropy, FFF supports the immigrant rights movement in the U.S. and provides a platform for donors to contribute to strengthening democracy.
• Democracy Fund’s Joint Funds: The Democracy Fund offers several joint funds that donors can contribute to, such as the Trusted Elections Fund and the Faith In/And Democracy initiative.
• Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE): A learning community for funders committed to enhancing civic engagement and democratic practice.
• Solidaire Network: A donor network that connects philanthropists with social movements working towards progressive change, including democracy-related efforts, including the Movement Infrastructure Fund and Black Liberation Pooled Fund.

Who Else Is Working on This?

I realize this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many other foundations and philanthropists, large and small, are striving to strengthen democracy at local, state, and national levels. Who else do you know working to defend and advance democracy while counteracting Project 2025? What are other philanthropic initiatives and pooled funds? Please let me know and I will happily share them in future blog and social media posts – our collective knowledge and collaboration are vital in protecting the future of democracy.

And if you haven’t already done so, please make a plan for how you will vote tomorrow! You can visit iwillvote.com if you have any questions about your polling location or registration status.

Onward!

Kris Putnam-Walkerly

After 25 years of advising ultra-high-net-worth donors and foundations, I’ve seen it all. The good news? These mistakes can be avoided!

In the spirit of Halloween, I’m sharing 25 things funders do that make nonprofits shiver—and how you can avoid these spooky pitfalls.

1.  Ghosting Nonprofits

Disappearing without returning calls or emails. Nonprofits are left in the dark, wondering what went wrong. Let’s create clear communication processes that keep grantees feeling supported.

2. The Dagger-Through-The-Heart Funder 

Withholding funds during nonprofit leadership transitions to “see what happens.” I advised a large foundation that was unsure about providing continued funding to a nonprofit undergoing a leadership change. We funded a succession plan for the nonprofit and ensured ongoing support through the transition, allowing the nonprofit to thrive instead of floundering.

3. Technicality Horror Show 

Rejecting applications over minor details, like an incorrect font size or missing attachment. Nonprofits shouldn’t lose out over tiny technical errors.

4. The Application Abyss 

Submitting a proposal only to be met with silence. Nonprofits deserve acknowledgment and feedback.

5. Secret Criteria

Changing grant criteria halfway through the process. I’ve seen this happen firsthand with a national foundation I advised. After designing and launching a $25M grant initiative, they unexpectedly changed the criteria after proposals were submitted, denying funding to previously qualified applicants. We reworked the process to ensure future transparency and alignment with grantee expectations.

6. The Handcuffed Treat 

Imposing strict conditions on how nonprofits must execute projects. Flexibility allows nonprofits to meet local and changing needs.

7. The Shapeshifter 

Changing your funding priorities halfway through a project. Nonprofits need stability. Let’s align your goals from the start to avoid last-minute changes.

8. Directing from the Shadows

Sending in consultants to “help,” but instead, they take over decisions. Nonprofits should be empowered, not overrun by outside experts.

9. The Haunted Courtship 

Requesting endless meetings with the promise of funding, only to vanish. Nonprofits need commitment, not a never-ending chase. One of my clients initially struggled with this—multiple exploratory meetings with grantees but no follow-through. After working together, we implemented clearer decision timelines and expectations, leading to more efficient and successful partnerships.

10. Tech-Free Terror

Making nonprofits navigate outdated or cumbersome application processes. For example, one foundation trustee refused to allow the foundation to invest in software so that nonprofits could apply for funding online. Why? Because he thought nonprofits should “work hard for their money.” 

11. The Never-Ending Gauntlet 

Forcing nonprofits to jump through endless hoops to apply. Let’s streamline your process and respect the time of your grantees.

12. One-Year Curse 

Insisting on short-term grants for long-term projects. Nonprofits need reliable, long-term support.

13. Magic on Demand

Expecting nonprofits to deliver unrealistic results quickly. Nonprofits need time to make a lasting impact. They cannot conjure magic out of thin air!

14. Strings Attached 

Offering funding with unreasonable demands, like replacing staff or expanding prematurely. A foundation I worked with realized they were pushing nonprofits too hard to expand before they were ready. After revising their approach, they started providing more flexible, targeted support, resulting in stronger, more sustainable grantees.

15. The Overhead Ogre 

Refusing to fund staff salaries or overhead costs. Nonprofits need operational support to thrive. They cannot light up a jack-o’-lantern without a candle!

16. Micromanagement by Metrics 

Forcing nonprofits to track irrelevant data just to satisfy funder demands. Don’t make nonprofits count cobwebs ️ —an exhausting and pointless distraction that takes their focus away from the work that truly matters. 

17. Surprise Spook-ins 

Dropping by unannounced or demanding impromptu site visits. A donor I advised learned this the hard way. She showed up unannounced at a health services nonprofit in the midst of a crisis response. While her intentions were good, they caused unnecessary stress. Together, we created a structured approach to her visits, allowing her to be more helpful without causing disruption.

18. The Funding Gap Phantom

Leaving nonprofits with gaps in funding by requiring a waiting period before reapplying. Continuous funding keeps nonprofits on track.

19. The Vanishing Pledge 

Making public promises of funding, only to later renege. A community foundation CEO once told me her board member pledged $50,000 in public, only to renege after another board member made a larger pledge (she didn’t want to be outdone!). Let’s make sure your promises are reliable.

20. Shifting Sands 

Suddenly changing your grantmaking priorities. Let’s maintain a consistent focus to avoid leaving nonprofits scrambling.

21. The Summoning Spell

Expecting nonprofits to drop everything for unscheduled calls or meetings. Respecting their time ensures they stay focused on their mission.

22. Rapid-Fire Changes 

Frequent turnover in program officers leads to confusion and inconsistency. Let’s keep things stable for nonprofits.

23. The Mission Morph 

Pushing nonprofits to address your latest passion, even if it doesn’t align with their mission. You can’t ask a zombie to suddenly become a werewolf. It’s not exactly their area of expertise! 

24. The Forced Coven 

Demanding that nonprofits partner with other organizations before applying, without giving them the time or resources to form a meaningful collaboration.

25. The Expanding Nightmare 

Increasing demands on nonprofits after funding is granted, without offering additional resources. It’s like asking them to create an elaborate costume when you previously agreed a simple sheet with holes cut out for the eyes would suffice. Let’s ensure expectations are realistic from the outset.

These behaviors can unintentionally terrify nonprofits, leading to stress, confusion, and missed opportunities.

This Halloween, let’s ensure your philanthropy is a treat, not a trick. By creating transparent, flexible, and supportive funding relationships, you’ll empower nonprofits to deliver their best work. 

Let’s talk. I only have a few select openings for foundation leaders serious about refining their approach and eliminating these spooky pitfalls. Schedule a call today to ensure your philanthropy lifts up the organizations you support—without any scary surprises! 

Secure your spot now—before the ghosts come out!

Happy Halloween! 

1. Not Investing in Technology

One foundation CEO, responsible for overseeing more than $200 million in assets, refused to allow his staff to take company laptops on business trips. His reasoning? To avoid the $1,700 expense of replacing a lost or broken laptop. As a result, staff couldn’t be productive while traveling. They were unable to prepare grant recommendations, research funding opportunities, or even respond to emails efficiently. This lack of investment in basic technology led to decreased productivity and wasted valuable time—far more costly than the price of a laptop.

The lesson here? Without the right tools, even well-meaning philanthropists can slow down their progress and impact.

Investing in technology for nonprofits is crucial to ensure your teams and grantees can operate effectively. When organizations are deprived of up-to-date tools and systems, they struggle to fulfill their missions.

2. Short-Term Grants That Hamstring Long-Term Impact

Another example comes from a nonprofit grantee’s perspective. A nonprofit requested a three-year grant to advance an innovative approach to drug treatment through policy advocacy. However, the donor approved only one year of funding, severely limiting the nonprofit’s ability to plan long-term. Policy advocacy requires sustained efforts over time—research, raising public awareness, organizing communities, and influencing policymakers.

Because of the limited funding, the nonprofit couldn’t hire top talent. The CEO’s ideal candidate wasn’t willing to leave a secure position for a one-year role. As a result, the CEO hired someone less experienced, who ultimately wasn’t as effective.

The lesson here? Short-term thinking leads to short-term results, and it’s nearly impossible to achieve lasting change without a commitment to long-term nonprofit support.

This is a perfect example of why effective grantmaking must involve an abundance mindset and multi-year investments to create real, systemic change.

3. Underfunding Nonprofit Overhead Costs

One of the most common ways philanthropists cut corners is by refusing to fund nonprofit overhead costs. Many funders believe that all their money should go directly to programs, leaving little for essential infrastructure, staff development, or evaluations. This approach is short-sighted. Nonprofit organizations cannot thrive without investing in their own infrastructure.

For instance, one donor insisted that grant funds should not be used to pay for personnel costs. While she was willing to fund programs, she refused to cover the salaries of the employees running those programs. How can nonprofits deliver effective services without properly compensating the people who make those services possible? The answer is simple: they can’t.

The lesson here? Without supporting essential overhead costs, you risk starving the very organizations you’re trying to help. Nonprofit funding must include operational support to ensure sustainability.

To support nonprofit capacity building, funders need to rethink the false dichotomy between program expenses and overhead. Both are essential for nonprofits to function effectively and create lasting impact.

4. Not Seeking Guidance from Strategic Advisors

Another common pitfall in philanthropy is the reluctance to seek outside expertise from strategic advisors. Many philanthropists believe that they should manage every aspect of their giving on their own or rely solely on internal resources. While this might seem like a way to save money, it often leads to costly missteps and missed opportunities, particularly when navigating complex decisions such as creating a new foundation, developing a strategic philanthropy plan, or managing succession planning for foundations.

For example, one family foundation decided to sunset its operations but did so without a clear plan. Without guidance from an experienced advisor, they struggled to balance current grant-making with future commitments and were uncertain how to involve the next generation in the process. As a result, the transition was fraught with confusion, and they missed opportunities to maximize their final impact. A strategic advisor could have helped them develop a thoughtful plan that aligned with their long-term vision while ensuring a smooth transition.

The lesson here? Strategic advisors bring valuable expertise that can help you navigate pivotal decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and ensure your philanthropy is aligned with your long-term goals. Investing in the right guidance can elevate your impact and set you on a path to success.

5. Neglecting Nonprofit Capacity Building

Philanthropists often focus solely on funding direct services, forgetting that nonprofits also need to invest in their own capacity-building efforts to deliver those services effectively. Capacity building includes upgrading technology, improving financial management systems, conducting evaluations, and developing leadership. Without investing in these critical areas, even the best-designed programs will struggle to grow and achieve lasting impact.

For example, one nonprofit dedicated to addressing food insecurity developed an innovative program that delivered fresh produce to families in need. However, because they lacked the funding to invest in better technology and operational systems, they couldn’t scale their operations. Delivery schedules were chaotic, and they often ran out of food, leaving some families underserved. The innovative nonprofit had vision and a plan, but without investment in their internal capacity, they couldn’t expand their reach or operate efficiently.

The lesson here? Investing in nonprofit capacity building is crucial to enabling organizations to deliver on their missions effectively and sustainably. By supporting infrastructure and leadership development, you help ensure that your grantees can scale their work and maximize impact.

Frugality may seem like a responsible approach to philanthropy, but cutting corners in critical areas can have long-term negative consequences. From underfunding overhead to avoiding investment in technology and talent, these five common pitfalls hinder your ability to create lasting change. To achieve meaningful impact, philanthropists must be willing to invest in the right places, even if it means spending more in the short term. The next time you’re faced with a decision to save, ask yourself: Are you saving money on all the wrong things?

This article was originally written and published on Forbes.com.

Over my 25 years advising funders, I’ve seen how proactive succession planning for foundations can transform their ability to navigate leadership changes smoothly and sustain their mission.

Today, I’m excited to lead my 8th workshop titled “The Simplified Succession Plan: Your Foundation’s Untapped Superpower.” In this session, philanthropy leaders will identify their top challenges from a list of 15 common barriers to foundation succession planning, many of which stem from the misconception that succession planning is only necessary when a departure is imminent.

Addressing these barriers head-on is essential for any foundation committed to long-term impact and stability.

Top 15 Barriers to Succession Planning for Foundations:

1. Overwhelm: The sheer task of creating a succession plan can feel overwhelming or daunting.
2. Avoidance: Conversations about death, leadership change, or trustee term limits are often uncomfortable and, therefore, avoided.
3. Fear: The fear of change, retirement, or the future of the foundation without its current leader.
4. Control: A desire from the CEO, board, or donor to maintain control, often hindering open succession discussions.
5. Unfinished Business: Leaders may want to leave but feel there is still more to accomplish.
6. Lack of Suitable Candidates: The absence of clear successors can stall succession planning.
7. Lack of Time: Succession planning is often deprioritized due to the day-to-day demands on leadership.
8. Cost Considerations: Developing and implementing a succession plan can involve expenses.
9. Don’t Know How: A lack of understanding on how to create or begin the process of succession planning.
10. Complacency: The belief that everything is running smoothly, reducing the perceived need for a plan.
11. Lack of Urgency: Succession planning is seen as something to address later, not an immediate concern.
12. Cultural Resistance: An organizational culture that does not prioritize planning for the future or leadership transitions.
13. Complexity of the Foundation’s Work: The unique and complex nature of the foundation’s work makes it difficult to envision a capable successor.
14. Board or Family Dynamics: Disagreements or lack of consensus among board or family members can impede succession planning efforts.
15. External Perception Concerns: Worry that initiating succession planning might signal instability or uncertainty to external stakeholders.

The Importance of Succession Planning for Foundations

Succession planning is more than just preparing for leadership change—it’s about ensuring the long-term sustainability and resilience of your foundation. Without a well-thought-out succession plan, organizations risk losing their vision, culture, reputation, and operational continuity.

By proactively addressing succession planning, you not only secure your foundation’s future but also empower your team, instill confidence in your stakeholders, and uphold the legacy of your work. The right plan transforms potential disruption into an opportunity for renewal and growth, making it an untapped superpower that every foundation should leverage.

Question for You:

Which of these barriers is holding your organization back from developing a strong succession plan? Email me to let me know—I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you’re ready to take actionable steps toward securing your foundation’s future, join me for my final Simplified Succession Plan Workshop on September 18, 2024. This complimentary, hands-on session – exclusively for philanthropy leaders – is designed to equip you with the tools and strategies to create a succession plan tailored to your foundation’s needs. You’ll leave with a clear roadmap that can be implemented immediately to ensure long-term sustainability and resilience.

Learn more and RSVP here.

1. Exhaustion Post-Planning

The Problem: Exhaustion and burnout often result from overly lengthy and resource-intensive planning processes. This can hinder the energy and enthusiasm needed for effective strategy implementation.

The Solution: Streamline and shorten the planning process itself. Embrace a more agile and efficient approach. Instead of spending 8 months on strategy development, spend 8 weeks or even 8 days! Additionally, allocate dedicated time in your team’s calendars specifically for strategy implementation immediately following your strategy retreat. This ensures that staff members are not overwhelmed with outdated activities and can focus on executing the new strategy immediately. 

2. Over-Planning the Implementation

The Problem: In an attempt to mirror the thoroughness of your strategic planning process, you might spend excessive time developing a detailed implementation plan. This can actually delay the execution of your strategy.

The Solution: While planning is crucial, avoid getting bogged down in creating a perfect implementation plan. Focus on your top priorities and actionable steps. Start with a high-level implementation framework and a punch list of immediate next steps. This will get you and your team moving quickly into implementation.

3. Lack of Clear Implementation Priorities

The Problem: One of the most significant barriers to successful implementation is the lack of clarity on top priorities. Without a clear focus, efforts can become fragmented, and progress stalls.

The Solution: Identify “Priority Champions” (people accountable for each priority), and ensure that everyone knows these priorities and their role in achieving them. This clarity will help streamline efforts and drive progress.

4. Assumptions About Team Alignment

The Problem: It’s easy to assume that everyone involved in the planning process understands their roles and next steps. However, new strategies often require changes in priorities and workflows, which can lead to confusion and misalignment.

The Solution: Clearly communicate the new priorities and roles to your entire team. Ensure that everyone understands their responsibilities and how they contribute to the overall strategy. Regular check-ins and updates can help maintain alignment and address any issues promptly.

5. Distractions and Shifting Priorities

The Problem: Your strategic plan should serve as your guiding star. However, new opportunities and external changes can easily distract you from your strategic goals. This can lead to a loss of focus and deviation from your planned path.

The Solution: Use your strategic plan as a filter for new opportunities. Evaluate whether these opportunities align with your strategic goals before committing time and resources. Maintain discipline and stay focused on your core objectives.

What to Do About It

Now that you understand why strategic plans often fail, here are the first three rules for successful strategy implementation:

1. Identify Your Top Implementation Priorities: Before your strategic planning retreat ends, determine the three or four top priorities to focus on next to ensure your strategy’s success. What is the 20% of activity that will deliver 80% of results?
2. Assign Accountabilities and a Date and Time to Reconvene: Designate individuals who are responsible for each priority (before you leave the retreat). These individuals should oversee the progress and ensure that the necessary actions are taken. Also, pick a date and time in the next 2 weeks when this group will reconvene to report on implementation progress.
3. Communicate Priorities Clearly: Make sure that everyone in your organization, from board members to staff, understands the top priorities and their roles in achieving them.

Need Help?

If you need assistance developing or implementing your strategic plan, let’s talk! Click the link below or email me directly to schedule a call. I promise to respond within 24 hours!

Schedule a call with Kris

Here are some key costs associated with delaying strategy implementation in philanthropy:

1. Inertia and Loss of Momentum

When strategic plans are delayed, the initial enthusiasm and drive to implement new ideas diminish. This inertia stalls progress, making it harder to regain momentum once the team is ready to proceed. The longer the delay, the greater the difficulty in re-energizing stakeholders. Continuous delays can lead to a culture of complacency, where the urgency to act dissipates, causing a ripple effect of reduced productivity and morale. Furthermore, the psychological impact of stalled initiatives can demoralize staff, reducing overall engagement and motivation.

2. Misalignment of Efforts

While waiting to implement a new strategy, your team continues to work on outdated priorities. This misalignment means that resources, time, and energy are spent on tasks that do not contribute to the foundation’s new goals. The cost here is twofold: wasted effort on obsolete tasks and a delayed start on impactful new initiatives. This not only hampers progress towards achieving new objectives but also frustrates staff who are eager to work on relevant and innovative projects.

One foundation leader told me she anticipated it would take their staff an entire year after developing their strategic plan before they could stop doing all their old activities and shift to the actions required to implement their new strategic plan. She justified this by calling it the Strategy Transition Year! You don’t need a year to change gears. You need to stop doing the things that no longer help you achieve your goals and start doing the things that do.

3. Wasted Investments in Planning

Creating a strategic plan often involves significant investments in terms of time and money, including hiring consultants and dedicating staff hours. If strategy implementation in philanthropy is delayed, these investments yield no immediate return. The strategy risks becoming outdated, making the initial expenditure almost futile.  The sunk costs of planning become a financial burden without the payoff of strategic advancement.

4. Vulnerability to Changing Conditions

Delaying the implementation of a strategic plan can render it obsolete before it is even put into action. Both internal and external conditions can shift rapidly, such as market dynamics, political landscapes, and organizational capacities. An outdated plan may no longer be relevant, necessitating a costly revision or complete overhaul. 

5. Excessive Focus on Presentation

Often, delays in strategy implementation in philanthropy are due to spending months crafting a comprehensive, visually appealing strategic plan document. One of my foundation clients developed their new strategy and then spent five additional months writing, editing, and graphically designing their strategic plan document before the board could officially approve it and staff could begin implementing it.  The true value of strategy lies in actionable steps. Spending excessive time on design detracts from the core purpose—implementing the strategy swiftly. Simplifying the plan into a concise two- or three-page Word document can save resources and expedite execution. This approach ensures that the focus remains on strategic priorities and quick wins rather than on producing an elaborate document that might never see the light of day.

6. Opportunity Costs

Every day of delay in implementing a new strategy is a missed opportunity to achieve potential gains. These opportunity costs can be significant, including delayed impact on community projects, missed opportunities to leverage additional funding, and lagging behind more agile organizations. The cumulative effect of these missed opportunities can be substantial, affecting not just the foundation’s immediate goals but also its long-term vision and credibility within the sector. 

To mitigate these costs, foundation CEOs and trustees should prioritize rapid, flexible strategic planning and implementation. Streamlining the process and focusing on immediate action can enhance impact and ensure that resources are effectively utilized. 

Ready to take the next step in developing a robust succession plan for your foundation or philanthropic family? Join me for my upcoming free event, The Simplified Succession Plan Workshop. This interactive session, exclusively for foundation CEOs, trustees, donors, and family office leaders, will provide you with practical tools and strategies to create a succession plan that works for your unique situation. Don’t leave your legacy to chance – invest in your foundation’s future today!

But there’s another crucial planning process that often gets overlooked: succession planning. Many foundations and philanthropic families view succession planning as something to address only when a departure is imminent. However, this approach can leave organizations and families vulnerable and unprepared.

Some organizations believe they’re prepared with a basic “hit by the bus” plan, outlining rudimentary steps to take if a leader suddenly departs, such as hiring a search firm or notifying key stakeholders. While this is a start, it falls woefully short of true succession planning. Effective foundation succession planning is not just about crisis management; it’s a comprehensive approach that can drive significant organizational improvements, enhance leadership development, and ensure long-term stability and impact.

Here are six compelling reasons why succession planning should be a regular business practice for all foundations and philanthropic families, regardless of anticipated departures:

1. Preserving Institutional Knowledge and Relationships

Think about all the knowledge, connections, and relationships that exist within your organization. Now imagine if key leaders suddenly departed without transferring that invaluable information. Scary, right? Regular succession planning ensures that critical knowledge and relationships are documented and shared throughout the organization. This process identifies key information holders and creates systems for knowledge transfer.

By doing so, you protect your foundation’s intellectual capital and maintain important external relationships, even as leadership changes occur. Without this practice, you risk losing years of accumulated wisdom and damaging vital partnerships that have been carefully cultivated over time.

2. Developing a Leadership Pipeline

Foundation succession planning isn’t just about preparing for the top leadership roles; it’s about cultivating talent at all levels of your organization, including your board. By regularly assessing your talent pool and identifying potential future leaders, you create a robust leadership pipeline for both staff and board positions.

For staff, this approach allows you to invest in professional development, provide stretch assignments, and mentor promising individuals. Not only does this boost employee engagement and retention, but it also ensures that you have a pool of qualified candidates ready to step into leadership roles when needed. On the board side, it involves identifying and preparing potential leaders, providing opportunities for increased responsibility, and ensuring a mix of tenures through term limits.

Consider the cautionary tale of a foundation whose board chair served for over 20 years without term limits. He had become the de facto decision-maker for most board matters and the other board members had grown accustomed to deferring to his judgment. When he suddenly fell ill and had to step down unexpectedly, there was no clear successor, and no one on the board felt prepared to step into the leadership role.

Neglecting this aspect of succession planning can lead to a leadership vacuum, forcing rushed hires or appointments of individuals who may not fully understand your organization’s culture and mission. By prioritizing leadership development at all levels, you create a culture of growth and preparedness that will serve your foundation well in both expected and unexpected transitions.

3. Ensuring Mission Continuity and Organizational Stability

We’ve all seen what happens when an organization experiences a sudden, unplanned leadership change. It can be chaotic, to say the least. Regular foundation succession planning helps maintain organizational stability and mission continuity, even during times of transition. By clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes, you create a roadmap for smooth leadership transitions.

This practice also allows you to align your succession strategy with your long-term organizational goals and values. Without a solid succession plan in place, you risk periods of uncertainty and potential mission drift during leadership changes, which can undermine the confidence of your grantees and partners, and and reduce organizational effectiveness.

4. Adapting to Changing Philanthropic Landscapes

The world of philanthropy is constantly evolving, and your leadership strategy should evolve with it. Regular succession planning provides an opportunity to assess the skills and expertise needed to lead your organization into the future. It allows you to identify potential areas for growth in your current leadership team and develop strategies to address them. This forward-thinking approach ensures that your organization remains relevant and effective in a changing philanthropic landscape. By regularly evaluating and planning for future leadership needs, you can better position your foundation to tackle emerging challenges and seize new opportunities in the sector.

This principle applies not only to staff leadership but also to board members and trustees. Regular foundation succession planning for your board ensures that you have the right mix of skills, perspectives, and networks to guide your foundation effectively as the philanthropic landscape evolves. Without this, your board may become outdated or ill-equipped to provide the governance and strategic direction needed in a rapidly changing world.

5. Strengthening Board Governance and Effectiveness

Just as we plan for executive transitions, we must also plan for board transitions. Regular board succession planning is critical for maintaining strong governance and organizational effectiveness. This process involves assessing the current board’s skills and demographics, identifying gaps, and developing strategies to recruit and onboard new trustees.

By regularly evaluating your board composition, you ensure that your foundation has the diverse perspectives and expertise needed to make informed decisions and provide effective oversight. This practice also allows you to plan for the gradual introduction of new board members, avoiding sudden, disruptive changes in board composition.

Moreover, board succession planning provides an opportunity to engage in important conversations about term limits, board size, and the balance between continuity and fresh perspectives. It can also help address sensitive issues, such as how to respectfully transition long-serving board members who may be less engaged or aligned with the foundation’s evolving direction. Without regular board succession planning, foundations risk becoming stagnant, losing touch with the communities they serve, or lacking the necessary expertise to navigate complex philanthropic challenges. It can also lead to a crisis if multiple board members depart simultaneously without a pipeline of prepared successors.

6. Navigating Family Dynamics in Philanthropic Succession

For family foundations and ultra-high-net-worth families engaged in philanthropy, succession planning takes on an additional layer of complexity. It’s not just about organizational leadership; it’s about preserving a family legacy while adapting to new generations. Regular succession planning in this context provides a structured way to engage younger family members, align diverse perspectives, and navigate potentially sensitive family dynamics. It creates space for open dialogue about the family’s philanthropic values and how they may evolve over time. Without intentional succession planning, family foundations risk conflict, disengagement of younger generations, or a disconnect between the foundation’s work and the family’s evolving priorities.

This point is particularly relevant for family foundation boards, where succession often involves transitioning leadership to the next generation. Regular succession planning can help family foundations strike a balance between honoring the founder’s legacy and embracing new ideas from younger family members. It provides a framework for discussing how family values translate into philanthropic priorities across generations.

Succession planning shouldn’t be a reactive measure triggered by an impending departure. Instead, it should be an ongoing, proactive process that’s integral to your foundation’s overall strategic planning. By making succession planning a regular business practice, you ensure the long-term health, stability, and impact of your organization.

Ready to take the next step in developing a robust succession plan for your foundation or philanthropic family? Join me for my upcoming free event, The Simplified Succession Plan Workshop. This interactive session, exclusively for foundation CEOs, trustees, donors, and family office leaders, will provide you with practical tools and strategies to create a succession plan that works for your unique situation. Don’t leave your legacy to chance – invest in your foundation’s future today!

This year marks my 25th anniversary in business, a milestone that has inspired me to reflect on my journey. Over the next year, I’ll be sharing monthly emails highlighting insights and key learnings from 25 years of advising philanthropist and foundation leaders. This is the first of those emails, where I share 25 key milestones that have shaped my consulting business.

1. Announcing My Consulting Business (1999)

I’ll never forget the mix of exhilaration and panic as I dropped my business announcement in the mail. The launch party was unforgettable!

2. The Launch Party Skirt

Fitting into the same skirt today (age 55) that I wore at my launch party at age 30—now that’s an accomplishment!

3. First Client

Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation

4. Investing in Myself

Early in my business I invested the last of my savings on a week-long consultant training. Best money ever spent!

5. Increasing My Fees

A foundation client advised me to charge more. I listened—and quickly!

6. First $100,000 Consulting Check

Wish I could still find the photo I took!

7. Becoming a Forbes.com Philanthropy Contributor

Two of my most popular articles profile actor Danny Glover and philanthropist  MacKenzie Scott.

8. Expanding Nationally

Moving from California to Cleveland, I feared losing clients. But instead of saying “I’m moving to Ohio,” I shared, “I’m expanding nationally and adding a Cleveland office.” Retained them all!

9. Working with Industry Giants

Over the years, I’ve had the honor of consulting for some of the largest foundations in the U.S., including Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Walton Family Foundation.

10. Growing a Business While Raising Children

Within a three-year period, I became a mom to twins and stepmom to three teenagers. My consulting practice continued to grow with some obvious adjustments (thank goodness for coffee!).

11. Surviving the Great Recession

Enough said.

12. Launching Confident Giving Newsletter

Providing provocative and practical advice to funders for the past 10 years. You can read them all and subscribe here!

13. Writing My First Book

Confident Giving.

14. Eliminating Non-Joyful Services

I stopped offering services I no longer enjoyed such as evaluations, environmental scans, and case studies. This allowed me to focus on what I love and am best at…

15. Shifting to Strategic Advisement

Exclusively serving foundation CEOs and ultra-high-net-worth donors.

16. Publishing My Second Book

Delusional Altruism.

17. Launching New Offerings

Advising, Coaching, Strategic Planning, Strategy Implementation, Executive Transition and Succession Planning, Foundation Sunset Planning, New CEO Jumpstart, and VIP Planning and Coaching Days. Learn more here!

18. First Business Award

National Association of Women Business Owners, Cleveland Chapter, 2007. (Milestone I’d like to forget: slipping on water as I walked back to my table, the glass award shattering into a thousand pieces!).

19. 34th Business Award

Philanthropy Advisor of the Year 2024 (M&A Today Global Awards).

20. Investing in Coaching

Last year alone I invested $75,000 in 12 months of business coaching, growth planning, brand positioning, and advisement. Worth every penny!

21. Launching Virtual Workshops for COVID Navigation

To support funders during COVID, I launched virtual workshops. The first, “Ready, Set, Adapt! How to Navigate Your Philanthropy in a Shape-Shifting Landscape,” was a huge success. My current offering focuses on post-COVID challenges: foundation executive transitions and succession planning. You can learn more here!

22. Pivoting Book Launch During COVID

I gave 24 virtual keynotes, workshops, and webinars, and over 40 podcast interviews in the last 9 months of 2020.

23. Shifting My Mindset

Transforming from thinking I had only one or two articles in me to becoming one of the world’s most prolific independent philanthropy advisors. My philanthropy-focused content now spans books, Forbes.com, newsletters, articles, guides, funder case studies and toolkits, YouTube videos, podcasts, TikTok videos (yes, TikTok!), keynotes, and more!).

24. Helping Hundreds of Philanthropic Clients

Increasing the clarity, impact, and joy of their giving has been my honor. I remember each of my clients and deeply appreciate their partnership. I truly enjoyed almost all of them, and the challenging ones gave me plenty of material for my book, Delusional Altruism!

25. The Ripple Effect

At the heart of it all lies the ripple effect. When I help a donor craft their first family giving plan, coach a foundation CEO through a tricky executive transition, or assist a foundation in effectively sunsetting, the impact multiplies. This influence reverberates, touching countless lives, families, and communities over the past 25 years. This ripple effect is why I do this work—creating waves of positive change that extend far beyond the initial consulting engagement.

Looking forward to what the next 25 years brings!

Anticipating a large infusion of assets can be an exciting opportunity to expand your reach and make a greater difference in the communities you serve. It can also feel overwhelming, sending you hiding under the covers. Don’t fear! With thoughtful planning and an abundance mindset, you can successfully manage this philanthropic boom and dramatically increase the clarity and impact of your giving.

Below are 10 key considerations for foundation executives, trustees, donors, and family offices in preparation for a significant increase in philanthropic assets. By addressing these considerations, you can ensure that your organization is well-positioned to effectively manage and deploy the additional resources for maximum impact.

1. Strategic Planning

Review and update your foundation’s strategy to align with the increased resources. Consider how the infusion of assets can enhance and expand the foundation’s existing program areas and causes. Determine if you want to add additional funding areas and explore new possibilities that were previously out of reach. This is an opportunity to think creatively and consider what is now possible with the increased resources at your disposal. Engage with key stakeholders, including staff, board members, and community partners, to gather input and ensure that your strategic planning process is inclusive and reflective of diverse perspectives.

2. Grant-Making Strategy

Your grant-making strategy will likely need to evolve to reflect the foundation’s increased resources and refreshed strategic plan. After all, tripling the assets will mean tripling your grant-making budget. Consider how the infusion of assets can support innovative approaches, partnerships, and collaborations to maximize impact. Explore opportunities for strategic partnerships and collaborations with other funders, organizations, and government agencies as part of your grant-making strategy. By leveraging collective resources and expertise, you can address complex social challenges more effectively.

Also, consider implementing or expanding best practices such as offering general operating support, grants to strengthen the capacity of nonprofits, multi-year grants, grants to support policy advocacy and systems change, and program-related investments to diversify your grant-making portfolio and increase the sustainability and impact of your funding.

3. Capacity Building

Assess the foundation’s current organizational capacity and identify areas where additional or improved infrastructure, systems, processes, and structures may be needed to effectively manage the increased assets and expanded programs. This could include grants management systems, technology upgrades, enhanced data analytics and evaluation capabilities, internal communications tools, and professional development programs. By investing in capacity building, you can ensure that your organization has the necessary tools, resources, and expertise to maximize the impact of your philanthropy. Engage with staff, board members, and external consultants to conduct a thorough assessment and develop a comprehensive plan for building and strengthening your organization’s capacity.

4. Talent

Assess your talent needs to effectively lead, manage, and implement your new strategy, increased assets, and grant-making budget. Evaluate the talent you currently have and consider if they are still a good fit for the organization’s expanded scope. Identify opportunities for promotion, training, or professional development to support your staff in their new roles. Additionally, consider if there is a need to hire new talent or engage consultants to bolster your capacity as you grow. A robust talent strategy is essential for attracting and retaining top talent, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence, and ensuring the long-term success of your organization.

5. Office Space

Evaluate your physical space needs in light of the anticipated growth of your organization. If you are working in person in an office, consider whether you need to expand your office space to accommodate the increased staff and resources. Alternatively, explore the possibility of shifting to remote or hybrid work options to optimize your resources and adapt to changing work environments. Consider the potential benefits of flexible work arrangements, such as increased productivity, cost savings, and access to a broader talent pool. Assess your current lease or real estate agreements and engage with experts to explore suitable options that align with your organization’s needs and culture.

6. Governance and Board Composition

Evaluate the foundation’s governance structure and board composition to ensure it remains effective and representative of the foundation’s mission and goals. Consider whether additional board members or advisors with relevant expertise should be added to strengthen decision-making processes and oversight. Assess whether your current board members have the talent, expertise, and experience needed to effectively lead the larger foundation. Gracefully exit any board members who may no longer align with the organization’s vision and actively seek diverse perspectives and backgrounds to enhance the board’s diversity and inclusivity. Conduct regular board assessments and engage in strategic board development to ensure the ongoing effectiveness and relevance of your governance structure.

7. Financial Management and Investment Strategy

Review the foundation’s financial management practices and investment strategy to ensure they are aligned with the increased assets. Engage with financial advisors to plan for the transfer, optimize investment returns, and manage risks. Consider implementing mission-related investing to align your investments with your philanthropic goals. Evaluate your current investment policies and explore opportunities for impact investing or ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing to generate both financial return and social or environmental impact. Regularly monitor and evaluate the performance of your investment portfolio and engage in ongoing dialogues with your investment advisors to adjust strategies as needed.

8. Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

A comprehensive communications plan needs to be developed to transparently share information about the increased asset size, refreshed strategy, and organizational changes with key stakeholders. Foster open dialogue by creating dedicated channels for stakeholder feedback and input to ensure programs remain responsive to community needs. Leverage multiple platforms like social media, newsletters, and events to disseminate updates, report on progress transparently, and share success stories. Engage stakeholders directly in decision-making through advisory committees and collaborative forums. Incorporate stakeholder perspectives to ensure the foundation’s philanthropy remains community-centered and impactful.

9. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in all aspects of the foundation’s work. Review and enhance policies and practices to ensure equitable access to funding opportunities and representation in decision-making processes. Incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into your grant-making processes by actively seeking out and supporting organizations led by underrepresented communities. Consider establishing funding initiatives that specifically address systemic inequities and promote social justice. Engage in ongoing learning and training to build your organization’s capacity to address diversity, equity, and inclusion effectively. By embedding these principles into your philanthropic work, you can contribute to a more equitable and just society.

10. Succession Planning

Evaluate the foundation’s leadership and develop a succession plan to ensure smooth transitions and continuity in the event of key personnel changes. Identify potential successors and invest in leadership development to cultivate a pipeline of talent within the organization. Succession planning is crucial to maintain stability and sustain the foundation’s impact over the long term. Engage in ongoing conversations with key staff members and board members to identify their long-term career aspirations and provide opportunities for growth and development. Consider external leadership training programs and mentorship opportunities to nurture emerging leaders. Regularly review and update your succession plan to adapt to changing circumstances and ensure a seamless transition of leadership when the time comes.

Anticipating a large infusion of assets presents an exciting opportunity for executive directors, boards, and donors to expand their philanthropic efforts and make a greater impact. While these are not the only considerations, this list will get you started. Remember, each foundation’s journey is unique, so adapt these steps to your specific circumstances and goals. With thoughtful planning and strategic decision-making, you can leverage the infusion of assets to create lasting change and advance your organization’s mission.

Want to secure your philanthropic future? Register for the Wealth for Good: Strategic Philanthropy Planning For Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families or The Simplified Succession Plan: Your Foundation’s Untapped Superpower virtual workshops.

While the idea of philanthropic succession planning may seem daunting, it can be much simpler than you might expect. Many philanthropic leaders hesitate, fearing a complex and time-consuming process. But with a clear and straightforward approach, creating an effective succession plan is well within reach. You might be wondering, “What should a succession plan include?” and “What are the critical steps to succession planning?” Below is a six-step Simplified Succession Plan that demystifies the process and guides you through setting up a succession strategy that is practical, effective, and SIMPLE.

S: Start with a Vision

Imagine your philanthropic organization a few years from now, having navigated a leadership transition so smoothly that it has become a case study in effective foundation succession planning. The new executive director has hit the ground running, or perhaps the next generation has smoothly assumed their roles. Long-serving board members have retired gracefully, their positions now filled by dynamic and capable successors. The foundation is more effective, vibrant, and aligned with its mission than ever before.  This success story begins today, with a clear vision of what the transition should look like. Bringing your team together to visualize success is more than a daydream—it’s a strategic tool. Craft this vision with clarity and let it guide you as you create your philanthropy succession plan.

I: Identify the Essentials

Understanding where you are now and what needs to change to achieve your vision is crucial. Evaluate your current leadership structures, staff roles, and operational systems. Are there gaps that need to be filled? Do certain processes or roles need to be redefined or enhanced? You will want to consider all aspects of your foundation, such as grants management, investments, governance, and organizational culture. This step is about pinpointing what must be true for your envisioned future to become a reality. It involves assessing your philanthropic organization’s readiness for transition and identifying both organizational strengths to build on and weaknesses to address. This might include developing leadership within or preparing to attract external talent to key positions.

M: Map Out Critical Success Factors

With a clear understanding of what needs to be true, focus next on the critical success factors that will make the transition successful. These are the elements or changes that will have the most significant impact on your foundation’s ability to manage a smooth leadership transition. It could be refreshing your strategic plan, establishing term limits for board members, or even terminating a toxic employee. Select a few key areas and dedicate focused efforts towards these. When I facilitate succession planning, I often ask my philanthropic clients, “What is the 20 percent of effort that will drive 80 percent of your results?” Prioritizing effectively will help concentrate your resources on high-impact strategies that facilitate a seamless transition.

P: Prepare and Document Your Plan

Convert your strategic insights into a documented foundation succession plan that outlines each step of the succession process. This document should serve as a blueprint for the transition, detailing actions, responsible parties, timelines, and expected outcomes. It should address the creation, improvement, maintenance, or elimination of policies and practices that will support the transition. By clearly articulating this plan, you provide your team with the direction and details necessary to execute the transition smoothly and effectively.

L: Leverage Organizational Strengths

In times of change, it’s vital to leverage your organization’s strengths. Whether it’s your foundation’s reputation, its operational efficiency, or its deep community connections, these assets are invaluable during transitions. Identify and emphasize these strengths in your planning to ensure they are preserved and utilized throughout the succession process. For example, if your foundation is known for its innovative grant-making and commitment to racial equity, document this in your foundation succession plan and ensure that this remains a focal point during the transition.

E: Execute and Iterate

Finally, the best-laid plans must be put into action to be effective. Begin implementing your foundation’s succession plan immediately. Even if a transition is not expected for many years, succession plan implementation will strengthen your foundation. Early action also tests the plan’s viability and allows time for adjustments and refinements. Ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and that there are mechanisms in place to monitor progress and make necessary adjustments. Regularly revisiting and revising the plan based on real-world experiences and feedback ensures that it remains relevant and effective.

For leaders and trustees, prioritizing philanthropic succession planning is crucial. It ensures that your foundation remains robust and ready to face the future, regardless of changes in leadership. Spend time now learning about effective approaches to philanthropic succession planning. By anticipating changes and planning for them proactively, you safeguard the mission you are passionate about and ensure that your foundation continues to make a meaningful impact. Remember, the time to plan for tomorrow’s success is today—your legacy and your foundation’s future depend on it.

Want to secure your philanthropic future? Register for the Wealth for Good: Strategic Philanthropy Planning For Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families or The Simplified Succession Plan: Your Foundation’s Untapped Superpower virtual workshops.

This article was originally written and published on Forbes.com.

1. Understand Individual Interests and Passions: Take the time to understand each family member’s interests, concerns, and areas of passion. Some may be drawn to environmental causes, while others may resonate more with education or healthcare initiatives. By tailoring philanthropic efforts to align with their personal motivations, you create a stronger sense of connection and investment.
2. Encourage Active Participation: Instead of dictating philanthropic initiatives from the top-down, create opportunities for family members to actively participate in the decision-making process. Establish a collaborative approach where everyone has a voice and can contribute their ideas and perspectives. This fosters a sense of ownership and engagement.
3. Leverage Diverse Skills and Expertise: Family members often bring a wealth of diverse skills and professional experiences to the table. Identify and leverage these unique strengths by involving individuals in areas where their expertise can be most valuable. For instance, those with financial backgrounds can assist with investment strategies, while others with marketing experience can manage the website or contribute to communications campaigns.
4. Facilitate Hands-On Experiences: Provide opportunities for family members to engage in hands-on philanthropic activities, such as volunteering, site visits, or meeting with grantees. These experiences can create a deeper emotional connection and understanding of the impact their efforts can have.
5. Embrace Generational Differences: Recognize that different generations may have varying perspectives and approaches to philanthropy. Younger generations may be more attuned to digital grantmaking platforms and innovative solutions, while older generations may value more traditional methods. Foster intergenerational dialogue and learning opportunities to bridge these gaps and create a more cohesive approach.
6. Tailor Engagement Levels: Recognize that family members have varying levels of availability and capacity based on their age and life stage. For younger members, you might want to incorporate interactive activities aligned with their interests.  Those launching their careers or starting families might need flexible options requiring minimal time commitments to prevent feeling overwhelmed. Allow family philanthropy engagement levels to ebb and flow as personal circumstances change.
7. Establish Clear Communication Channels: Effective communication is crucial to effectively engage family members in philanthropy. Establish regular meetings, forums, or digital platforms where family members can share updates, discuss ideas, and engage in open dialogue. Transparent communication can help mitigate potential conflicts and foster a sense of unity.
8. Celebrate Contributions: Recognize and celebrate the diverse contributions of each family member. Highlight successes, milestones, and the unique value that each individual brings to philanthropic efforts. This recognition can reinforce a sense of belonging and motivation.
9. Seek Expert Guidance When Needed: Sometimes, navigating the complexities of family philanthropy requires external expertise. Engaging a philanthropy advisor or family philanthropy expert can provide crucial guidance in facilitating family meetings, addressing challenges, and crafting a structured giving plan. These professionals bring valuable insights and strategies that can enhance the effectiveness of your philanthropic efforts. Investing in expert advice ensures that your family’s philanthropic activities are both impactful and aligned with your collective values.

By embracing diversity and creating an inclusive environment, engaging family members in philanthropy can become a unifying force that brings different perspectives together towards a common goal of making a positive impact. Remember, the strength of family philanthropy lies in the collective effort and shared commitment to creating meaningful change.

Want to secure your philanthropic future? Register for the Wealth for Good virtual workshop & elevate your family philanthropy.

This article was originally written and published on Forbes.com.

Many well-intentioned philanthropists and foundations are hampered not by a lack of resources but by a prevalence of fear. But how do you overcome those fears in philanthropy?

In the world of giving, where the potential to enact meaningful change is vast, fear can manifest in multiple ways, each limiting the scope and impact of philanthropic efforts. Understanding, confronting, and overcoming fears in philanthropy is essential to transforming philanthropy from a cautious endeavor to one that truly changes the world.

As a strategic philanthropy advisor to ultra-high-net-worth donors and foundation leaders, part of my role involves fostering bold leadership in philanthropy to help my clients identify and surmount their fears.

Here are four of the most common:

1. Fear of Wasting Resources

A prevalent concern among philanthropists is the fear of squandering resources, which often fosters a scarcity mentality. This fear typically leads to overly conservative funding practices, where the emphasis is on minimizing expenditure rather than maximizing impact. Examples of this include limited or absent budgets for professional development, technology upgrades, or organizational infrastructure and reluctance to cover necessary overhead costs or invest in adequate staffing.

Ironically, this cautious approach can lead to significant financial waste. For instance, during the initial years of the COVID-19 pandemic, one community foundation invested over $300,000 in strategic planning over two years. A substantial portion of this budget was allocated to extensive data collection efforts, not trusting the abundant knowledge and insights already possessed by staff, board, and key grantees. The foundation’s leadership was driven by a fear of misallocating grant funds without a flawless strategic plan, resulting in not only financial losses but also a diversion of staff time away from impactful activities and direct strategy implementation.

2. Fear of Taking a Stand

Another significant fear is that of taking a stand on controversial issues. Philanthropists and foundations often hesitate to align publicly with specific causes due to fear of backlash or alienation. This is particularly prevalent in community foundations, which, by nature, serve diverse constituencies and, therefore, often adopt a cautious approach to avoid offending any group. The result can be a philanthropy that is diluted and less effective than it could be if it were more boldly aligned with specific transformative goals. This is where overcoming fear in philanthropy becomes crucial, as taking a stand, despite potential backlash, can lead to significant social impact and demonstrate true leadership in the field.

3. Fear of Failure

The fear of failure is often the most debilitating. It prevents philanthropists from experimenting with innovative solutions and can keep new initiatives from ever getting off the ground. This fear typically leads to a perpetual cycle of planning and reassessment, where the overwhelming desire to mitigate any risks results in complete inaction.

For example, the reluctance to invest in an unproven but potentially revolutionary program can suppress innovation, especially in areas that desperately require fresh ideas. One health foundation pulled back from funding a promising but unconventional approach to mental health due to apprehensions about the new methodology’s unproven track record. This decision meant missing out on the chance to be at the forefront of potential breakthroughs in the field.

Promoting bold leadership in philanthropy is crucial to fostering an environment where failure is not seen as a setback but as an essential part of the innovation process.

4. Fear of Not Being a Good Steward

The responsibility of managing and disbursing funds effectively can also lead to excessive caution that verges on fear. Many philanthropists worry about not being good stewards of the resources entrusted to them. They fear making critical investments in themselves, such as retaining an advisor to help them create a succession plan or hiring an executive assistant to support an overworked executive director. This fear can also lead to making safer, smaller grants or imposing stringent conditions on grantees that can stifle rather than enable their work. The drive to oversee and micromanage can hinder the very causes they aim to support, as seen in cases where funders require excessive documentation and reporting from their grantees.

Overcoming Fear in Philanthropy

These are not the only fears funders face. In fact, fear is so prevalent in philanthropy that I wrote an entire chapter about it in my book, Delusional Altruism. To overcome these fears in philanthropy, donors and leaders of foundations, corporate giving programs, and family offices must adopt an abundance mindset. This involves recognizing that investing in their capacity, as well as that of their grantees, is not wasteful but essential for achieving impactful outcomes. It requires trust in the expertise of others – especially those you are seeking to help – and the courage to fund initiatives that might challenge the status quo or introduce new ways of thinking.

Funders should also embrace failure as a part of the learning process. Rather than a sign of mismanagement or waste, unsuccessful projects should be viewed as valuable lessons that pave the way for more effective strategies. Similarly, taking bold stands on critical issues can define a philanthropist’s legacy and drive substantial progress in areas that are often overlooked or underfunded due to their controversial nature.

Embracing Bold Leadership

As a funder, you wield considerable power to effect change. I encourage you to examine the fears that may be constraining your ability to make a real difference. Are you holding back because you’re afraid of wasting resources, failing, or losing control? Or are you courageous enough to invest in high-risk, high-reward opportunities that could potentially transform the landscape of your cause?

Let us demonstrate bold leadership in philanthropy in our pursuit of change. By confronting and overcoming our fears in philanthropy, we can unlock the full potential of our charitable giving and lead the way to a better, more equitable world. Embrace the possibilities that come with bold, fearless giving, and watch as the seeds of change flourish into lasting impact.

Don’t forget: My website has some great resources for you to use to conquer your fear, and I am always available to chat if you are looking for a trusted advisor. Go here to find out how to schedule a call with me.

This article was originally written and published on Forbes.com.

Many philanthropists, in their earnest attempt to maximize the impact of every dollar, fall into the trap of what I term “Delusional Altruism.” This occurs when donors are so focused on minimizing overhead and operational expenses that they inadvertently hinder their ability to make a real impact.

The concept is simple yet profound: by excessively cutting costs in areas like strategy development, talent, technology, succession planning, and advisement, donors and foundation leaders can actually limit their effectiveness and the effectiveness of the organizations they wish to help. Let’s explore how this mindset can be transformed to empower true, systemic change in philanthropy.

The Pitfall of Misguided Frugality

One of the most common missteps in philanthropy is the undue emphasis on minimizing overhead costs. This misguided frugality in philanthropy is typically well-intentioned. Philanthropists often believe that by cutting back on administrative expenses, more funds can be directed toward “real” change. However, this perspective is short-sighted and counterproductive.

For instance, one of my clients, the CEO of a private foundation, refused to allow staff to take laptops on business trips to avoid the cost of potential replacements if they were dropped or damaged. While the intention was to save money, the actual result was a significant reduction in productivity, as staff were unable to work effectively while traveling. This is a perfect example of “saving money on all the wrong things,” a practice that can severely restrict an organization’s ability to operate efficiently and responsively.

The Importance of Investing in Capacity

True transformation in philanthropy requires an investment in both personal and organizational capacity. This means supporting not just the immediate, direct costs of projects but also the systems, skills, and staff that underpin successful initiatives. Investing in nonprofit capacity is crucial. Philanthropists and professional philanthropy leaders must recognize that investing in administrative capacities, technological upgrades, strong governance, and talented personnel is not antithetical to effective giving; rather, it is foundational to transformational philanthropy and sustained impact.

Take, for example, a nonprofit that required multi-year funding to advocate for policy changes related to drug treatment. The potential donor offered only a one-year grant, fearing that longer commitments would tie up funds that could be used elsewhere. This short-term approach neglected the reality that effective advocacy requires sustained effort and secure funding commitments. The nonprofit had difficulty hiring someone to lead the advocacy effort because they could only guarantee one year of funding. Here again, we see how a scarcity mindset can limit the potential for real progress.

Overcoming Fear and Embracing an Abundance Mindset

The root of much delusional altruism lies in fear—fear of waste, fear of inadequacy, and fear of the unknown. To move beyond these fears, philanthropists must embrace an abundance mindset and a transformational giving strategy. This means recognizing that true generosity involves more than just the disbursement of funds. It involves a holistic approach to giving that includes building the capabilities of grantees and investing in the long-term success of their missions.

Philanthropists must trust in the expertise and intentions of those they support, allowing them the flexibility and resources to navigate their unique paths to impact. By doing so, donors can transform their philanthropy from transactional exchanges to transformational partnerships.

Expanding Impact Through Strategic Funding

Consider the transformative potential when donors fund supports multi-year initiatives, allowing organizations to plan longer-term, undertake significant challenges, and innovate in their approach. When funders commit to covering not just project costs but also essential operational needs—from staff salaries to software upgrades—they empower organizations to focus on their missions rather than constant fundraising.

Moreover, supporting professional development for nonprofit leaders and staff can significantly enhance their effectiveness. By offering funding for advanced training or conferences, philanthropists help build a community of skilled professionals who can elevate the entire sector. These measures are essential for transformation in philanthropy, enabling organizations to adapt and respond to changing needs effectively.

Call to Action: Transform Your Giving

As leaders in philanthropy, you have the power to enact meaningful change. I encourage you to assess your own giving practices: Are you inadvertently hampering your impact by holding too tightly to the purse strings in the wrong areas? Are you investing enough in your own capacities and those of the nonprofits you support?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as the saying goes. To avoid this fate in your philanthropic journey, I urge you to reflect on how you can reallocate resources not just for greater efficiency but for greater efficacy. Consider the true costs of the outcomes you seek and fund the necessary infrastructure that supports those outcomes, whether they be technological, human, or strategic.

Let us not be delusional about what it takes to make a real difference. Let’s commit to funding not just the work but the engines that drive the work. By embracing an abundance mindset, we can redefine what it means to be a philanthropist in the 21st century and beyond, turning good intentions into lasting impacts. By embracing these practices, we are not just participating in philanthropy; we are part of a global movement toward transformational philanthropy that shapes the future.

Do you need help transforming your philanthropy? My book, Delusional Altruism, will help you uncover self-limiting fallacies and how they may be manifesting in your giving efforts with proven strategies to avoid and overcome these pitfalls to realize your goal for impactful, sustainable change. You can get your own copy by going to my website.

While you’re there, be sure to check out my upcoming events page too! I have a few exclusive events coming up for you to learn how to transform and maximize the impact of your philanthropy.

This article was originally written and published on Forbes.com.

Traditional long-term philanthropic planning models are being upended, necessitating a shift towards more agile and responsive approaches.

Whether you are conducting strategic planning or succession planning, planning to create a new foundation or sunset an existing one, here are eight simple strategies to navigate this shifting landscape, ensuring your philanthropic efforts are both effective and adaptable.

1. Cultivate a Mindset of Adaptability and Resilience

In an era where change is the only constant, funders must cultivate adaptability and resilience as core competencies. Rather than allowing the idea of an “unknown future” to paralyze you, let it free you. You can’t possibly plan for every contingency, so stop trying. Decide to be flexible and agile instead, recognizing your plan will likely change along the way. By adopting a mindset that welcomes change, you position yourself to seize unforeseen opportunities and innovate in response to new challenges. This approach ensures that your philanthropic efforts remain impactful and relevant, no matter how the external environment evolves.

2. Recalibrate Your Timeline

If this new decade has taught us anything, it’s the futility of spending one to two years to create three- or five-year philanthropic plans. By the time it’s done, the world will have changed, and the plan will be outdated. While setting long-range goals is great, the reality is funders can only plan for the next 12 months or so. That’s liberating! We aren’t locked into an inflexible multi-year strategy. Instead, we can quickly incorporate new opportunities as they arise, making a bigger impact faster.

Here’s a practical example. I guided a private foundation to create an executive transition plan in preparation for the founding CEO’s retirement in three years. The plan anticipated hiring a search firm to conduct a national search in Year Two. But six months in, an amazing successor candidate showed up unexpectedly. Because we embraced an opportunistic mindset and recalibrated the timeline, the foundation was able to hire the new CEO faster than originally anticipated. As a bonus, the outgoing CEO was retained to extensively train and onboard the new CEO, transition key relationships, and help with special projects. The result was a seamless transition and a stronger foundation.

3. Stop Endlessly Researching

Often what slows funders down is they embark on extensive data collection prior to any philanthropic planning. Digging into data is critical—but only to a point. Often the additional research is induced by fear of failure or making the wrong choice. Research becomes an excuse to delay taking action. Funders likely already know 80% of what they need to know about an issue. Leverage that existing knowledge by brainstorming what you currently understand. Then identify the critical gaps in your understanding and limit your research to obtaining that specific information. Base decisions on the best available information, with the confidence that you will keep learning and adjusting as you go.

4. Clarify Objectives Before Tactics

Too many funders jump straight into tactics before taking the time to clearly articulate their overarching objectives. Pause and discover your “what” first: What specific impact do you want to see 12 months from now? What does your desired future state look like? Then frankly assess your current state on this issue, and only then determine how you’ll bridge that gap (your tactics). Putting the “how” (tactics) before the “what” (objectives) sends you spiraling down the wrong path prematurely.

For example, while I was facilitating philanthropic planning with a family foundation, one trustee suggested the foundation needed to communicate more effectively to key stakeholders. He began asking if the foundation should be on Twitter or Facebook. I explained they could not possibly determine which social media platform the foundation should prioritize, if any (the tactics) without first formulating its strategy and communications objectives.

5. Prioritize

Once you’ve created your plan, it can feel like you have 65 immediate next steps. But you can’t do 65 things at once. Determine your top 3-4 priorities. These are the most important actions that need to be taken next to implement your philanthropic plan. Ask yourself, what is the 20% of effort that will create 80% of our results? These critical priorities transcend any individual’s task list – they must become the enterprise-wide rallying cry for everyone. Communicate your top priorities to everyone involved, decide who is accountable for driving each one forward, and measure progress obsessively.

6. Build a Simple Action Plan

For each priority, list out five to 10 specific action steps required to accomplish it, assigning owners and deadlines to each. Then implement rapidly – no need to build fancy charts or complicated project plans that will be outdated quickly. Your very first step is often the hardest: dropping all non-essential commitments from your calendar to free up capacity for these priorities. Block official “execution time” for them, even if you don’t yet know the exact activities.

7. Constantly Recalibrate

Don’t just set your plan and implementation in motion without ever looking up again. The world around you will continue shifting rapidly, so you must be able to pivot your approach just as quickly. At regular intervals (e.g. quarterly), explicitly reassess: What progress have you made? What’s changed internally or externally that impacts your ability to achieve the desired outcome? In light of those changes, what portions of your existing plan still make sense, and what needs to be modified, drastically altered, or abandoned? Update your priorities and plan accordingly, then continue moving forward.

8. Prioritize Progress Over Perfection

Perfection is an illusion that too many philanthropists get caught chasing. Rather than agonizing endlessly to create the perfect plan, take an iterative approach instead. Quickly develop an initial strategic roadmap based on your current knowledge, immediately put it into motion, and be prepared to rapidly adjust as new information and circumstances arise. A solid-yet-flexible game plan allows you to make progress, align resources, and respond agilely to emerging threats or opportunities – preventing “analysis paralysis” and protecting you from wasting precious time and money. The world needs philanthropists willing to make imperfect bets and continue evolving based on real-time feedback. An imperfect plan you implement is far better than no plan.

As we navigate through an era of unprecedented change, the call for philanthropists to adopt more agile and responsive strategies has never been louder. The eight strategies outlined offer a roadmap for navigating the shifting philanthropic landscape with confidence and purpose. By embracing adaptability, prioritizing action over perfection, and being willing to make and learn from imperfect bets, philanthropists can ensure their philanthropic planning efforts continue to make a meaningful impact. The journey ahead may be uncertain, but by remaining flexible and responsive to the world’s evolving needs, philanthropy can continue to be a powerful force for good.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with your giving efforts or you need help clarifying your giving goals and creating a plan. In that case, I invite you to join me at my Wealth for Good: Strategic Philanthropy Planning for Ultra-High-Net-Worth Families event. You will learn how to develop your philanthropic strategy, clarify your cause, and navigate family dynamics in philanthropy. Seize this opportunity to gain clarity, focus, and direction for your family’s philanthropic journey. RSVP now to secure your spot in this exclusive, transformative event. You can learn more and RSVP here.

This article was originally written and published on Forbes.com.

By investing in a comprehensive foundation succession plan, you can mitigate risks, seize opportunities, and position your foundation for continued impact and growth. Failing to plan is planning to fail – don’t let your foundation fall victim to leadership disruptions that could have been avoided.

The Compelling Case For Succession Planning: It’s In Your Best Interest

As volunteer board members generously donate their time and expertise, the last thing you want is to find yourselves overwhelmed by the havoc and stress caused by an unexpected executive departure. Without a comprehensive succession plan in place, you risk being engulfed in disruption and chaos that stretches far beyond the scope of your board duties. From damage control to crisis management, an unplanned transition can quickly consume your personal bandwidth and leave you grappling with issues you never signed up for. A proactive succession plan can:

1. Ease The Burden On Board Leadership: Without a plan in place, an unexpected executive departure can place an overwhelming burden on the board chair and executive committee. They would be responsible for communicating the transition to stakeholders, identifying and training an interim CEO, and spearheading the search for a permanent replacement – tasks that can significantly strain a board member’s time and resources. This substantial workload diverts focus from the board’s strategic oversight role and core duties, potentially hampering the foundation’s ability to operate effectively during this critical period.
2. Mitigate Financial And Legal Risks: As fiduciaries, board members bear the responsibility of protecting the foundation’s assets and ensuring compliance with legal requirements during a leadership transition. A well-crafted succession plan can help you navigate this period smoothly, minimizing the risk of financial mismanagement or legal violations. Without proper planning, the foundation risks potential penalties, lawsuits, or reputational damage stemming from lapses in regulatory compliance or financial oversight that fall through the cracks.
3. Reduce Staff Turnover: Unexpected leadership changes often trigger a domino effect of staff departures, leading to costly recruitment efforts, decreased morale, and disruptions to critical projects. A succession plan can provide reassurance and continuity, encouraging key personnel to remain engaged during the transition. Retaining institutional knowledge and maintaining operational consistency can prove invaluable as the foundation navigates the leadership change.
4. Maintain Board Stability: When boards find themselves entangled in a leadership crisis, members may start resigning, compounding the challenges faced by the organization. A proactive succession plan can prevent such turmoil, allowing the board to focus on guiding the foundation through the transition process. Board turnover during a leadership vacuum can further destabilize the organization, making a carefully crafted succession strategy all the more crucial.
5. Protect Your Reputation: An unexpected or tumultuous leadership transition can undermine confidence among partners, grantees, and donors, potentially damaging the foundation’s reputation and jeopardizing its ability to secure future funding partnerships or effectively implement its programs. Perceptions of instability or mismanagement can have long-lasting consequences, highlighting the importance of a smooth, well-orchestrated succession process.
6. Facilitate Seamless Knowledge Transfer: An ideal succession plan allows for an overlap between the outgoing and incoming executive, enabling the new leader to receive valuable training, establish relationships with key stakeholders, and gain insights from the historical knowledge of their predecessor. This crucial knowledge transfer ensures continuity and sets the stage for the new leader’s success, preventing a disruptive “reset” that could hinder the foundation’s progress.
7. Control Costs: Reactive responses to unexpected departures are significantly more expensive than proactive planning. By investing in a succession plan, you can avoid the costs associated with interim leadership, staff turnover, executive searches, crisis communications, legal fees, and potential financial mismanagement. The investment in foundation succession planning pales in comparison to the substantial financial toll of a mishandled leadership transition.

Seize The Opportunities: Benefits Of Proactive Succession Planning

Beyond just crisis prevention, proactive succession planning unlocks a wealth of opportunities to strengthen your foundation’s leadership, strategy, and operations. This pivotal transition represents a catalyst for positive transformation, enabling you to envision an optimal future state, align resources, and position your organization for long-term success under a new executive. Embrace the following opportunities to maximize the impact of your foundation’s succession planning efforts:

1. Craft A Compelling Vision: The succession planning process presents an opportunity to envision the foundation’s optimal future state and articulate the attributes and impact desired from the next executive leader, guiding the transition towards aspirational goals rather than merely transactional steps. This forward-looking mindset fosters strategic alignment and can reinvigorate the organization’s sense of purpose and direction.
2. Identify The Ideal Leadership Profile: Carefully assess whether your foundation’s next phase requires a leader who will continue the current strategic framework or one who will chart a new direction – two distinct profiles that demand different skill sets and qualifications. This critical evaluation ensures alignment between the organization’s evolving needs and the capabilities of its future leader, mitigating the risk of a costly leadership mismatch.
3. Solidify Your Legacy: Foundation succession planning allows board members and CEOs to reflect on their personal legacies and the lasting impact they wish to have on the foundation, its grantees, and the broader community. This introspection can inspire actions that manifest your desired legacy and shape the organization’s future trajectory. By being intentional about your legacy, you can leave a lasting imprint on the foundation’s mission and values.
4. Strengthen Organizational Efficiency: Use the transition as a catalyst to address existing inefficiencies, streamline processes, and align the organization’s structure with its strategic goals, creating a more attractive environment for potential leadership candidates and facilitating a smoother handoff. This period of change presents a unique opportunity to implement long-overdue operational improvements and position the foundation for greater effectiveness under new leadership.
5. Enhance Board Preparedness: Evaluate the board’s readiness to actively participate in the executive transition, clarify roles and responsibilities, consider implementing or revising term limits, and ensure effective onboarding processes for new trustees – all critical steps to maintaining a strong and engaged governing body. A cohesive, well-functioning board is essential to navigating the complexities of a leadership transition and supporting the new executive’s success.
6. Realign Personnel And Resources: Review and potentially restructure the organizational chart, reassigning duties, exiting underperforming staff, or recruiting for key positions to ensure stability and support for the incoming executive leader. Similarly, this transition period presents an opportunity to gracefully exit board members who bring toxic energy or fail to contribute meaningfully. A fresh start under new leadership may necessitate recalibrating the team and resources to align with the foundation’s evolving priorities and needs.

By proactively investing in an executive succession plan, foundation boards can safeguard their organizations’ future, mitigate risks, seize opportunities for growth and improvement, and solidify their lasting legacies. Embrace this critical responsibility and position your foundation for continued success and impact in the years to come. The cost of inaction is simply too high – prioritize foundation succession planning to secure your organization’s path forward.

Ready to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of your foundation? Let’s discuss your executive succession plan today. Schedule a call with me to explore how we can tailor a comprehensive strategy to meet your foundation’s unique needs and goals.

Don’t wait for disruptions to dictate your foundation’s future. Take proactive steps towards success now. Click the button below to get started.

This article was originally written and published on Forbes.com.

Health conversion foundations have emerged as pivotal players in the public health landscape, bridging gaps in healthcare funding and policy advocacy to meet the evolving needs of underserved communities.

These entities not only channel significant financial resources into public health initiatives but also embody a strategic approach to tackling the root causes of health disparities. By focusing on the social determinants of health and fostering broad-based partnerships, health conversion foundations are uniquely positioned to drive systemic change, making them an indispensable asset in the quest for equitable health outcomes.

A health conversion foundation (also known as a health legacy foundation) is a type of charitable organization that is created when a nonprofit healthcare entity, such as a hospital or health plan, is sold or transitions to a for-profit business. The proceeds from this conversion are used to establish a foundation that continues the original mission of improving community health. These foundations have grown dramatically since the first was established in 1973.

However, creating one from scratch can be daunting. This Roadmap outlines the essential steps to create and launch a health conversion foundation, providing practical advice and strategies for each phase of the process.

Step 1: Establish a Community Advisory Panel

The establishment of a community advisory panel is a foundational step for any health conversion foundation. After all, the assets from the sale of the nonprofit health entity, in the form of this new foundation, belong to the community. This panel, comprising diverse local experts and community leaders, ensures the foundation’s initiatives are aligned with genuine community needs. It acts as a vital link between the foundation and the community, fostering trust and collaboration from the outset. The advisory panel’s diverse perspectives and expertise can guide the foundation’s strategic direction, ensuring initiatives are based on the community’s articulated needs. Additionally, it can help embed community engagement as a perpetual core aspect of the foundation’s operations.

Step 2: Understand Legal and Regulatory Requirements

Understanding the complex legal and regulatory landscape is crucial for the successful establishment of a health conversion foundation. Foundations must navigate state-specific laws governing the conversion process, which typically require approval from state attorney generals or other regulatory bodies and may impose specific requirements on the conversion process, including the valuation of assets and the structure of the resulting foundation. Further, they must comply with IRS regulations to maintain tax-exempt status. This step involves consulting with legal experts specializing in nonprofit and health law to ensure compliance and safeguard the foundation’s charitable assets. A thorough understanding of these requirements ensures the foundation’s operations are transparent, accountable, and aligned with the public good, laying a solid legal foundation for all future activities.

Step 3: Formally Establish the Foundation

The formal establishment of the foundation involves selecting an appropriate legal structure, registering with state authorities, and complying with IRS requirements. This process lays the legal groundwork for the foundation’s operations and governance, involving drafting articles of incorporation, developing bylaws, and obtaining necessary licenses. Establishing a solid legal foundation is essential for operational integrity, regulatory compliance, and the establishment of governance practices that promote transparency, accountability, and ethical governance.

Step 4: Ensure Strong Governance

Establishing strong governance is critical for supporting the foundation’s mission and ensuring accountability. The board of directors should be diverse, reflecting the community’s diversity and bringing together expertise in relevant fields. This governance structure is essential for informed decision-making, strategic oversight, and ensuring the foundation‘s efforts are ethical, transparent, and aligned with community needs. A committed and knowledgeable board is crucial for guiding the foundation’s strategic direction, overseeing financial and operational management, and fostering a culture of integrity and accountability. Term limits are important to foster a dynamic governance structure, welcoming fresh perspectives and preventing stagnation.

Step 5: Create a Solid Infrastructure

Achieving operational excellence is crucial for the foundation’s success and involves hiring a strategic CEO and key staff early, developing robust internal systems and processes, and ensuring the foundation’s infrastructure supports its strategic plan and community engagement efforts. This includes establishing efficient grantmaking systems, financial management practices, and evaluation mechanisms. Operational excellence enables the foundation to manage resources effectively, engage with grantees and partners efficiently, and measure the impact of its programs accurately. The foundation’s commitment to operational excellence ensures it can fulfill its mission, respond to community needs, and achieve its vision for healthier communities.

Step 6: Conduct a Comprehensive Community Health Needs Assessment

A comprehensive community health needs assessment is critical for understanding the specific health challenges and resources within the community. Start by reviewing existing data and assessments that may have recently been completed by other local organizations, such as community and private foundations, hospitals, health departments, universities, and nonprofits. Fill in gaps by engaging directly with community members and experts to gather additional data and personal insights. This assessment will inform the foundation’s strategic direction and funding priorities. Additionally, it will establish a baseline to measure impact. Engage health departments, community organizations, and residents to ensure a holistic view. This early engagement fosters trust and collaboration, setting the stage for effective community-focused initiatives.

Step 7: Define the Foundation’s Mission and Vision

Defining the foundation’s mission and vision is a critical step that sets the tone for all future activities. These statements should be developed with insights from the community health needs assessment, reflecting the foundation’s commitment to addressing identified health challenges and disparities. A clear mission and vision not only provide direction but also inspire stakeholders and ensure that the foundation’s efforts are aligned with its overarching goals. They serve as the foundation’s north star, guiding strategic planning, daily operations, and decision-making processes, ensuring that every initiative undertaken advances the foundation’s mission to improve community health.

Step 8: Develop a Strategic Plan

Developing a strategic plan is essential for outlining the foundation’s goals, strategies, and metrics for success. Informed by the initial community health needs assessment, the strategic plan acts as a roadmap for the foundation’s priorities and activities, ensuring efforts are focused and aligned with achieving measurable health improvements. The plan should be adaptable, allowing for adjustments based on new insights and changing community needs. It serves as a living document that guides the foundation’s decision-making, program development, and resource allocation, ensuring that all efforts contribute to the foundation’s mission and vision.

Step 9: Advance Equity and Address Social Determinants of Health

Embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles into every aspect of the foundation’s work is crucial for ensuring initiatives are accessible to all community members, especially those historically underserved. Focusing on programs that address social determinants of health enhances the foundation’s impact, contributing to more equitable health outcomes. Integrating DEI principles requires a commitment to understanding and addressing the root causes of health disparities, fostering inclusive engagement strategies, and supporting initiatives that promote health equity and access. To effectively advance DEI, foundations must also look inward, ensuring that their internal policies, practices, and culture reflect these values.

Step 10: Launch Grantmaking Programs and Foster Partnerships

Launching grantmaking programs that align with the foundation’s strategic goals and fostering partnerships with other organizations is essential for amplifying the foundation’s impact. To fully realize their strategic goals, foundations should consider a broad spectrum of grantmaking approaches, including offering general operating support, making muti-year grants, advocating for systems and policy change, and building nonprofit and community capacity. Collaborative grantmaking and strategic partnerships enable the foundation to leverage resources, expertise, and networks to address complex health issues more effectively. These efforts should be guided by a commitment to collaborative, community-based solutions and evidence-based approaches ensuring that the foundation’s resources are used to support innovative and sustainable health improvements.

Step 11: Implement Monitoring, Evaluation, and Adaptation Processes

Implementing robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks is key to assessing the impact of the foundation’s programs and initiatives. This step involves using data and feedback to inform continuous learning, strategic adjustments, and program improvements. An adaptive approach allows the foundation to refine its strategies, enhance program effectiveness, and share learnings with the community and stakeholders. Commitment to ongoing evaluation and adaptation is crucial for maximizing the foundation’s impact on community health.

Step 12: Foster Transparency and Communication

Effective communication and transparency are foundational for health conversion foundations, underpinning trust and accountability with stakeholders and the public. An ongoing commitment to openness, through regular updates and open dialogues, ensures that the foundation’s activities, achievements, and challenges are transparent. By establishing diverse communication channels, such as digital platforms and public forums, foundations can engage in meaningful exchanges about their work and impact. This approach not only highlights successes but also openly addresses setbacks, fostering a culture of honesty and continuous improvement.

Step 13: Effectively Manage Financial Resources

Securing and managing financial resources involves developing a sustainable financial model that includes diversified funding sources and prudent endowment management practices. Establishing financial policies that promote transparency and accountability is crucial for the foundation’s long-term ability to support community health initiatives. Investments should align with the mission and values. Sound financial management ensures the foundation’s resilience in the face of economic fluctuations, enabling it to invest in impactful health programs, respond to emerging community needs, and pursue opportunities for growth and innovation.

Creating and launching a health conversion foundation is a comprehensive and multifaceted process that requires careful planning, community engagement, and adherence to legal and regulatory standards. By following these detailed steps and maintaining a commitment to principles of equity, transparency, and community partnership, founders can establish foundations that make a lasting impact on community health.

If you need help, I encourage you to reach out. I have been lucky enough to be a trusted advisor to some of the world’s foremost philanthropists, and I have guided hundreds of wealthy families, foundations, Fortune 500 companies, Giving Pledge signatories, celebrity activists, Family Offices, and wealth advisors to strategically allocate over $1B in grants and gifts. If you’re ready to schedule a call, please click the button below to reserve a time. I look forward to meeting you!

I wanted to highlight the standout articles from the past year that resonated the most with readers like yourself. Readers frequently commend the dual nature of my articles—provocative yet practical, offering valuable insights into the specific challenges they encounter in their philanthropic pursuits. I trust these articles will prove beneficial to you as well!

Without further ado, here is this year’s list:

1. “The Need for Speed In Philanthropic Strategy”

Philanthropists move too slowly. While lives and communities hang in the balance, funders drag their feet. Instead of finding the fastest route from A to B, they clutter their path with needless obstacles. Why the sluggishness? Philanthropists make three key mistakes.

2. “Why A Clear Strategy Is Key To Achieving Your Philanthropic Goals”

During times of challenge, a dynamic philanthropic strategy becomes indispensable. It serves as your guiding light, ensuring the intended impact materializes. In reality, many philanthropists either lack a clear strategy or are burdened with outdated ones. Don’t fret; crafting an effective strategy is more straightforward than you might think. Read on to learn five key steps to shape your philanthropic strategy.

3. “Are You Suffering From Strategic Stagnation?”

Navigating strategic planning in philanthropy doesn’t have to be slow and cumbersome. However, a variety of obstacles commonly get in the way. You must be constantly on alert and ready to address them when they find their way into your planning efforts! Learn three of the most common sources of strategic friction no matter what size your organization is—from a solo philanthropist to a global foundation.

4. “11 Elements of a Foundation Executive Transition Plan”

Executive transitions are bound to happen. But they don’t have to be sources of anxiety and disruption. With the right approach, they can be catalysts for growth, strengthening your organization while amplifying its impact. Read on to learn 11 key elements you can incorporate into your executive transition plan.

5. “The Hidden Risks of Neglecting Succession Planning in Foundations”

Solid leadership is a cornerstone for success. However, many foundations — be it private, family, corporate, or community-based — overlook one crucial aspect of leadership: succession planning. Read this blog to learn seven scenarios demonstrating the range of problems that can ensue when foundations neglect this vital process.

6. “The 3 Real Reasons Your Family Foundation Needs A Succession Plan”

Who’s going to make decisions about our philanthropy when you’re no longer around? Have you ever pondered the future of your family foundation? It’s a topic that may initially seem a bit morbid, but I assure you, it’s far from grim. By addressing the three real reasons for a foundation succession plan, you’ll not only secure your legacy but also set your family foundation up for continued success long after you’re gone.

7. “Why Foundation Boards Should Have Term Limits”

Foundation boards, entrusted with trillions in assets and vast grant-making capacities, can unintentionally stagnate without the catalyst of term limits. These limits, often overlooked, hold the potential to drive continuous improvement and responsive governance. Discover the reasons behind why term limits matter. 

8. “Removing The Drag: How To Make Your Philanthropy More Aerodynamic”

In my 25 years of experience advising philanthropic leaders, I’ve noticed a common problem — strategic drag. Many foundations start with the best intentions and ample resources, yet they fail to What exactly causes drag in philanthropy? Read on to learn the most common culprits I’ve observed!

9. “20 Ways A Philanthropy Advisor Can Help Your Foundation”

Did you know that philanthropy advisors can play a vital role in your foundation’s success? By partnering with these advisors, foundations and donors can maximize their impact, improve their operations, and navigate the complex landscape of philanthropy with confidence. In this blog, I highlight 20 ways advisors can support and strengthen your organization.

10. “Ringing In The New Year With Focus”

As 2023 ends, embrace the opportunity to finish strong and step into the new year with purpose. This blog post unveils five simple steps to help you make the most of these remaining weeks. Ready to Make Progress? Click here to uncover the secrets to reclaiming your time, streamlining your priorities, and achieving your goals effectively.

Ready to transform your foundation’s impact? Don’t miss out on the final opportunity to join my “Aerodynamic Giving” event for Foundation CEOs & Trustees! This is your last chance to sign up! Don’t miss the chance to create implementation momentum and lead your foundation with clockwork precision. Transform lives with simplicity, speed, and agility. Secure your spot now and soar to new heights in philanthropy — click the button below to RSVP.

Yet too often, governance models cling to the tradition of lifetime appointments with no term limits for board members. This complacency risks stagnation, thwarts impact, and prevents accountability to evolving community needs. Implementing thoughtful term limits provides essential catalysts for continuous improvement.

What exactly are board term limits? Simply put, they are rules that require board members to step down from their positions after serving a set number of terms. Many nonprofit and foundation boards have term limits of two or three terms lasting around three years each.

The problems caused by not having term limits for board members are plentiful.

Here are the top seven I’ve seen advising hundreds of foundations for the past 25 years:

1. Entitlement

Trustees without term limits can easily embrace a mindset of entitlement, where board positions are viewed as rewards rather than responsibilities. A striking example comes from one of my health conversion foundation clients. During a candid conversation, a board member shared his justification for a lifetime board appointment: “We were there during the tough times, steering a failing nonprofit hospital. Now, we deserve to be part of the good times, experiencing the fun of giving money away.”

2.  Self-Serving Tendencies

Those granted lifetime board appointments have little incentive to leave the power, prestige, and access their positions provide. Many private and family foundations pay their trustees or provide them with discretionary funding to make grants to the nonprofits of their choice. A trustee of one of my private foundation clients once told me, “I like the $25,000 annual payment. Why would I want to leave?”

3. Stagnation

Without enforced turnover through term limits, the same people work together on foundation boards for decades. Ideas recycle and innovation stifles. Power imbalances perpetually dominate discussions. And the energy? Well, it’s often about as vibrant as a room full of napping cats!

4.  Ineffectiveness

Many trustees with lifetime appointments stay on the board long past the time they can contribute. Several of my family foundation clients had elderly board members who regularly slept through meetings. Another developed dementia but stayed on the board for another two years before it became physically impossible for her to continue. These board members were not contributing to the foundation’s effectiveness. Without natural exists through term limits, asking them to leave is difficult and awkward.

5. Groupthink

Without term limits for board members, foundation trustees can fall into groupthink faster than teenagers on a fashion trend. Risk-taking dies and foundations stick to tradition rather than embracing change to drive impact on shifting community priorities.

6. Homogeneity

An important value of board term limits is they allow for increased and ongoing diversity in all forms such as ethnicity, race, lived experience, professional experience, expertise, geography, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. As one of my current clients adeptly shared with me, “It just makes good business sense to have a diverse team. Diversity helps your organization perform better. I’m a big believer in that. It just really does. Having people of different economic swaths and cultural and race and gender and all that stuff just makes everything work better.” However, by definition, foundation boards without term limits lack diversity and therefore limit the the foundation’s effectiveness.

7. Next Generation Disengagement

The lack of term limits for board members means trustees can continue serving into their 90s. In the meantime, there are likely many “next generation” family members – adult children and grandchildren – who would like to get involved but see no opportunity or path to board service. It could be decades before current trustees leave the board. They will naturally lose interest in the family foundation. They don’t have the opportunity to learn from or be mentored by elder family members about how to lead the foundation. This results in significant sustainability challenges for family foundations.

Of course, quality board service should not be cut short arbitrarily. Thoughtful succession planning can ease transitions from term limits for board members while retaining institutional knowledge. Approaches like staggered terms, structured reappointment reviews, and emeritus advisory positions bring accountability through natural turnover.

Term limits alone will not guarantee effective foundation boards and strategies. But constructed thoughtfully, they provide essential catalysts for accountability, responsiveness, and catalytic thinking that lifetime trustee tenures undermine.

The communities and nonprofits foundations seek to serve deserve no less. The world changes too swiftly for institutional philanthropy not to embrace overdue reforms like term limits for board members. They offer a valuable starting point to help boards continuously improve towards mission and community impact in our rapidly changing world.

If you need guidance on creating a philanthropic strategy that will guide your organization toward success, or if you’re unsure where to start, I would love to chat with you — click the button below to schedule a call with me!

The hours are ticking away and soon we’ll be celebrating the start of a brand-new year. For many, this time of reflection sparks feeling overwhelmed, panicked, and guilty about not yet achieving year-end goals.

It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy of the season. But you don’t need to ring in 2024 feeling stressed.

Instead of scrambling to finish yearly goals before the ball drops, follow these five easy steps:

Step 1: Clear your calendar

Take a good, hard look at your calendar for the rest of the year. Reclaim time to achieve your goals by identifying anything in your professional or personal life that can be:

• Reduced – Can that one-hour meeting be shortened to 30 minutes? Could your business trip be tackled via Zoom? Do you need to conduct additional research, or do you already know enough to get started? Find ways to shorten or reduce the amount of time needed to meet the objective.
• Delegated – What’s on your plate that – with a little training – could be easily handled by someone else? I bet there are people in your organization who would welcome the opportunity to learn and build new skills. Don’t forget about what can be delegated in your personal life. Think house cleaners, snow shovelers, and caterers. I once hired some neighborhood teenagers to wrap all my Christmas presents. I spent an hour prepping and saved 8 hours of wrapping!
• Postponed – Does it really need to happen in 2023? Or can it move to 2024? If it’s not a top priority (see next tip) and isn’t required (attending your kid’s band concert), I bet you can reschedule it.
• Grouped – Sometimes we feel so busy because the stuff on our calendar is spread out throughout the day or week. Think about ways you could group together similar activities, freeing up larger chunks of time in your calendar. For example, reschedule your meetings to all be in the morning, so that you have the afternoon to focus on an important project.
• Eliminated – Does it need to happen at all? Often, we engage in activities out of habit. It’s the way it’s always been done. From bureaucratic processes to attending your cousin’s annual ornament exchange party, do you really need it?

Step 2 – Pick your priorities

Now that you’ve freed up some time, spend an hour identifying your top priorities. These could be personal (schedule all those doctor appointments you’ve been meaning to schedule), professional (decide if you want to convert your foundation to a donor-advised fund), or both.

Right now, some of my coaching clients’ top priorities include: deciding whether and how to sunset the foundation, planning an international learning trip, developing their foundation’s 2024 strategy, and creating an executive transition plan.

What are the most important things you want to accomplish in the next month, quarter, or year? Write them down and put them somewhere you will see them regularly.

Step 3 – Block time in your calendar to focus on top priorities

Got your priorities? Awesome! Now open up your calendar and schedule time for them. Even if it’s just a few hours a week to start. You don’t yet need to know how you will spend this time, just schedule it. Consistency moves the needle. What gets scheduled gets done.

Map when and how you’ll take action on each priority in the weeks ahead. This will allow you to achieve your goals more rapidly

Step 4 – Create a punch list for each priority

You can start by making a list of the top 3—10 things that need to happen next in order to accomplish each priority. This can be as simple as “Make a list of every doctor appointment to schedule,” “Google and read articles about the pros and cons of foundations vs donor-advised funds,” and “Hire an executive coach.”

When my husband and I contemplated buying a new home, the task seemed daunting. But when I limited myself to three activities to do next, it was easy: Look at houses for sale online, go to open houses, and talk to a realtor. Those weren’t the only things that needed to happen. But making a list of immediate next steps gave us the momentum we needed to take action.

Step 5 – Take action

Speaking of which, begin acting on your next steps. Remember, you’ve blocked out time on your calendar for your top priorities. Use that time to tackle your punch list. By focusing your effort and energy, you’ll make consistent progress on what’s most important.

As current priorities are met, identify new ones! Taking action on top priorities will propel you to achieve your goals. This focus fuels momentum to ring in 2024 feeling focused and accomplished.

Remember, you don’t need to do this alone! If you need support clarifying priorities or creating an action plan, I’m here to help. Reach out anytime to schedule a call.

I also want to take this time to invite foundation CEOs and trustees to my free, 90-minute guided workshop to help you minimize strategic friction and help you find your fast path toward making the greatest impact. Learn more about it and register here.

Many foundations start with the best intentions and ample resources, yet they fail to achieve the impact they desire because forces are slowing them down.

As a philanthropy advisor and coach, my mission is to help foundations minimize this drag so they can operate with greater clarity, efficiency, and joy. I want to help them become more aerodynamic in their philanthropic strategy and giving.

What exactly causes drag in philanthropy?

Here are some of the most common culprits I’ve observed:

1. Your Response to Unexpected Events.

   When the political, economic, or social landscape suddenly shifts, foundation leaders often feel paralyzed, plunged into free fall, scrambling, and unsure of how to adjust their philanthropic strategy. One client was embarking on strategic planning when Donald Trump unexpectedly became president. Assuming his election required a strategic overhaul, they delayed planning for a year. But Trump didn’t necessitate major changes for their localized health conversion foundation. Their overreaction caused paralysis and loss of momentum.

2. Crowded Calendars.

   It’s easy to get bogged down in meetings, site visits, events, and other activities that fill up your calendar but don’t advance your philanthropic strategy. I once coached a foundation director who wanted me to help her refresh their strategy quickly. Then she looked at her busy calendar and decided to delay strategy development for eight months. During this delay, the foundation paid its staff to be busy “working.” But the work was not aligned with common goals. As funders we must ruthlessly evaluate how we spend time, aligning activities with strategic priorities.

3. Fear.

   Fear is rampant in philanthropy. So much so I devoted an entire chapter to fear in my book, Delusional Altruism. Funders fear “coming out” in support of an issue. There’s fear of backlash to changing course. Many donors fear confronting their privilege and racism— “What if I discover unsettling truths about my wealth or myself?” This breeds analysis paralysis. One foundation spent two years and $300,000 developing a strategic plan due to fear (I can’t make that up!). The excessive data collection over action was rooted in anxiety, not necessity.

4. Scarcity Mindsets.

   Some funders embrace frugality, believing lean operations increase community impact. However underinvesting in talent, systems, and grantees often backfires. Others feel too small to address root causes, sticking to incremental change. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. A bold philanthropic strategy outlines obtaining needed resources and skills for maximum impact.

5. Lack of External Support.

   It’s hard to strategically steer a foundation by yourself. Athletes, pilots, and surgeons rely on coaches, advisors, and specialists to help them improve their performance. But many philanthropists try to go it alone.

6. Not Anticipating Change.

   The landscape is constantly shifting. A strategic philanthropist knows change is inevitable and builds in touchpoints to continually assess and adjust philanthropic strategy as needed. But many foundations set a strategy and doggedly stick to it long after it’s become irrelevant.

So how can you remove the drag and become more aerodynamic in your philanthropic strategy? After advising hundreds of philanthropists, I’ve identified seven core principles of transformational giving strategies:

1. North Star Focus: You’ve clearly defined your vision and goals.
2. Accelerated Impact: You’ve streamlined processes to move quickly and efficiently toward your goals.
3. Priority-Driven: You’re focused on the priorities that will create the greatest impact.
4. Anti-Frugality Infrastructure: You’ve adopted an abundance mindset and are investing in talent, technology, and operations vital to your strategy.
5. Culture of Candor: There is open and honest communication about what’s working, what’s not, and why.
6. Executive Agility: You continuously assess and refine your philanthropic strategy in response to changes.
7. Joy: The work brings you and your team fulfillment, not burnout.

This framework creates alignment, clarity, and forward momentum. As a strategic advisor to UHNW donors and foundation executives it’s incredibly fulfilling to see the frustration melt away as they transform their philanthropies from sluggish blimps weighed down by overstuffed calendars, fear, and scarcity mindsets into sleek jets racing toward their ambitious goals.

The impact is tangible – engaged boards, motivated staff, powerful grantees, and improved outcomes. And philanthropists feel more joy and momentum in their work.

As Maya Angelou said, “Nothing will work unless you do.” My mission is to help philanthropic leaders maximize their impact by creating transformational strategies that take flight.

If you’re ready to make your philanthropy more aerodynamic, here are two easy ways to get started:

1. Download my free guide on Creating a Transformational Philanthropic Strategy. It walks through the 7 principles and includes a workbook to apply them to your foundation.
2. Join my next complimentary workshop “Aerodynamic Giving: Minimize Strategic Friction and Find Your Fastest Path to Impact” on November 29 or January 25.
   In this interactive session, we’ll assess common sources of drag, design an aerodynamic strategy, and leave with an actionable roadmap. Seats fill fast, so be sure to sign up today.

With expert guidance, you can remove the friction slowing you down and gain momentum to make meaningful changes in our world. I look forward to helping you accelerate your philanthropic impact!

Here are a few examples of funders moving at the speed of sloths that I’ve experienced while advising foundation CEOs. Do any feel familiar?

• A private foundation collects endless data to learn about a social problem and then is so overwhelmed by the data they don’t know what to do with the information.
• A family office embarks on a year-long strategic planning process that convenes family members a dozen times before their philanthropic strategy is finalized.
• A community foundation can’t make funding decisions until after the grants committee meets in person, and that only happens twice a year.

Why the sluggishness? Philanthropists make three key mistakes: They toss the junk in their way, they make the simple complex, and they become bloated with bureaucracy.

1. Clogging the System with Unnecessary Junk

Funders set their goals, and then they create a bunch of junk that gets in their way. They use this junk as an excuse for moving so slowly. When I speak with foundation CEOs, I hear about this junk all the time.

One private foundation was ready to refresh its philanthropic strategy but tossed a U.S. president in its way: President Donald Trump was unexpectedly elected, so the foundation board decided to postpone strategic planning for four months to “see what happens.” This derailed their momentum, and it was a full year before they re-embarked on strategic planning.

I do this too. When I set out to write my last book, Delusional Altruism, I immediately—without realizing it—tossed in a bunch of junk. I decided that first I needed to take a week off work and completely declutter my house. And get to inbox zero. And finish planning my kids’ summer camp schedules. “How could I possibly focus on a book if I’m worried about a messy house, emails, and how my twins will spend summer vacation?” I concluded. But I didn’t need to do any of that. What I needed to do was open my laptop and start writing.
We all do this. We all set our sights on what we want to accomplish, and then we create things that get in our way and slow us down.

2. Complexifying the Simple Instead of Simplifying the Complex

Instead of determining the easiest and most streamlined solution, philanthropists often create a convoluted one.

If you want to implement your philanthropic strategy, it’s as simple as identifying your top implementation priorities, assigning people to be accountable to them, asking them to come up with a list of the 5–10 things they need to do next, and then holding their feet to the fire by asking for progress updates every few weeks. It’s really that easy.

What most funders do instead is turn a simple solution into a complex one. They spend months creating detailed implementation plans replete with Gantt charts, work plans, tactics, and timelines. Or they claim they’re too busy to start implementing because their calendar is chock-full of meetings, events, and conferences for the next few months (none of which have anything to do with their new strategic direction). By the time they start implementing their new strategic plan, it’s out of date!

3. Developing Bureaucratic Bloat

Bureaucracy allows unnecessary procedures and systems to rule the roost. These procedures might have made sense when you first started, but they no longer serve you. Or they never made sense, and you just began doing them because that’s what another foundation did.

Let me give you a few examples. Bureaucracy is active when you require four different people to approve a $ 5,000 grant. Bureaucracy is at work when it takes an average of nine months for your organization to make a grant. And it’s alive and well when you require three consultants to submit proposals before your program officer is allowed to retain one.

I once advised a philanthropic family to create a giving plan. They estimated the project would take 24 months. I explained it could be done in 24 days. “Why wait?” I asked. “Because our family meets twice a year, once by phone and once in person,” the donor explained. “We think these important discussions should happen in person. We need one in-person meeting to hire the consultant, and two more to discuss and agree upon the plan.”

While I don’t disagree with the value of face-to-face communication, this family was allowing unnecessary procedures (e.g., voting must happen in person, we only meet every six months, etc.) to dictate the speed at which they could attain clarity and alignment in their family philanthropy. The bureaucratic tail was wagging the charitable dog, and it was slowing things down.

Why does bad bureaucracy happen to good philanthropists? No one wakes up thinking, “Let me make life harder for myself and others!” It’s all done in the name of altruism.
You think you are being good stewards of your resources by requiring four signatures on every grant approval. You think you are engaging your family in your charitable giving by insisting on in-person decision-making. But really you are becoming bureaucratic and slowing things down. You are delusional in your altruism!

I know you don’t want to be a sloth. You don’t want to toss junk in your way. You don’t want to add unnecessary complexity to what should be straightforward solutions. And you certainly don’t want to create a bureaucracy!

Join me for Aerodynamic Giving!

If you are a philanthropy CEO or trustee who wants to speed things up, join me for my free, virtual event “Aerodynamic Giving”. You’ll learn how to accelerate your philanthropic impact, chart the most direct flight path by honing your philanthropic strategy, and discover where friction slows down your grantmaking and operations!

Your strategy defines not just what you aim to achieve but also how you intend to accomplish it. It helps you identify and reach your philanthropic goals and prevents you from running in disparate directions chasing proverbial squirrels.

However, all too often, philanthropists find themselves without a clear strategy to reach their philanthropic goals. In some cases, they may have a strategic plan, but it’s outdated and no longer informs day-to-day decisions, leaving them without a roadmap.

If this sounds familiar, don’t despair! Developing a strategy is easier than you think. Armed with a well-crafted strategy, you’ll be better prepared to make a meaningful impact on the world.

Read on for five steps to formulate your philanthropic strategy, enabling you to use your resources effectively while enhancing the clarity, impact, and joy of your giving.

1. Shift your Mindset

Admittedly, recent years have been marked by unpredictability and turbulence. Many funders respond by feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the endless what-ifs of an unknown future. As a result, it can feel challenging to set a strategy when the future remains uncertain. But here’s the reality: the future has always been, and will always be, unknown. Always.

So, here’s the mental shift I urge you to embrace: Rather than allowing the concept of an “unknown future” to paralyze you, use it as a source of liberation. Attempting to meticulously plan for every conceivable contingency is a Sisyphean task. It’s time to put a stop to that. Instead, opt for flexibility and agility, acknowledging that your plan will almost inevitably require adjustments along the journey.

To put it more optimistically, you’re granted the freedom to adapt your plan in response to newfound opportunities and innovations, regardless of their source or timing. So, let this realization set you free.

2. Ditch the 5-year Plan

If this decade has taught us anything, it’s the futility of spending a year to create a three-, five-, or 10-year strategic plan. While setting long-range goals is great, the reality is we can only plan for the next 12 months or so. The world changes too rapidly. Meanwhile, the dust is settling on your long-term plan.

That’s good news, though! It means we aren’t locked into an inflexible strategy we’re just slogging through. It’s far more practical to recalibrate your timeline. Develop your philanthropic strategy swiftly, begin implementing it immediately, and be ready to adapt as circumstances evolve. Your strategy can be created in as little as seven hours or seven weeks (yes, really!). As a result, you and your team will have an agreement on what you want to accomplish, a plan for reaching your philanthropic goals, and the confidence you can adjust along the way.

3. Don’t Let Data Collection Paralyze You

Hold on to your hats, folks! I realize what I’m about to say might sound sacrilegious, especially in a world that worships at the altar of data-driven decision-making. But hear me out: I’m not labeling data collection as an outright waste of time; I’m simply advocating against wasting excessive time on it.

Here’s the usual scenario: Philanthropy leaders kick off their strategic planning with these grand, elaborate, and let’s not forget, wallet-draining data-gathering spectacles. Think “learning tours,” “listening sessions,” and “environmental scans” that consume precious time and money. And then, poof, it all comes to a halt. Fast forward several years, and they’re back at it again.

The hard truth is, that diving into data is undoubtedly crucial, but it has its limits. Beyond a certain point, it becomes a stumbling block fueled by a crippling fear of making mistakes. Besides, shouldn’t we be learning from community members, grantees, and other experts on an ongoing basis? If you’re continuously attuned to needs and spotting opportunities, this data should be readily available when the time comes to shape your strategy.

So, take a leap of faith and base your decisions on the best information you have at this very moment. Believe in your capacity to refine and improve as you go. You don’t need to have all the answers upfront to start making a difference.

4. Embrace the ‘What’ Before the ‘How’

Let’s dive into a common pitfall that many philanthropists stumble into – prematurely diving into the tactics, the ‘how,’ without first establishing clarity around their strategy, the ‘what.’ The truth is that you can’t reasonably figure out how to achieve something until you’ve nailed down precisely what you’re trying to achieve!

So, as you embark on the quest to define and reach your philanthropic goals, kick things off by asking some thought-provoking “what” questions:

• What do we aspire to accomplish within the next 12 months?
• What type of philanthropic entity do we aim to be a year from today, whether it’s a foundation, family office, or corporate giving program?
• What is our ultimate objective?
• What does our desired future look like? Feel like?

Only after you’ve unraveled these ‘what’ components should you venture into the ‘how’ territory. Ask yourself: Given what we want to accomplish, how best can we accomplish it? How do we move from our current state to our desired future state?

For example, I’m helping one of my clients create their first corporate giving strategy. If what they want to accomplish is narrowing their focus to one cause and engaging employees, how they might accomplish that is by launching a signature funding initiative to support children’s mental health and creating an employee matching gifts program. It’s not the CEO funding her pet projects, saying yes to every request to sponsor a golf outing, and joining the local arts education funding collaborative. But if corporate leadership starts guessing at how to create their giving strategy before determining what they want to accomplish with it, they could end up heading down the wrong path—wasting time and money on the wrong tactics.

5. Identify Top Implementation Priorities

Now that you’ve set your strategy, it may seem overwhelming with numerous tasks on your to-do list. However, it’s essential to focus your efforts. Identify your top three priorities for reaching your philanthropic goals. These priorities are the critical actions that must occur next for implementation.

For instance, if your strategy involves sunsetting and spending down your foundation, your top priorities might include financial forecasting, narrowing grantmaking to focus on core funding areas, and crafting a communication plan. These priorities aren’t the only tasks, but they are the most vital ones requiring immediate attention.

Wondering if it’s time to create or refresh your strategy? Here’s a quick tip: Ask everyone on your team, including staff, board members, and family, to name the organization’s top three priorities for implementing your strategy. If there’s a lack of agreement or confusion about your priorities, it’s time to create or revitalize your strategy!

If you need guidance on creating a philanthropic strategy that will guide your organization toward success, or if you’re unsure where to start, please feel free to schedule a call with me!

Reaching philanthropic goals is within your reach. And if you’re a foundation CEO or Trustee who is looking to sharpen your strategy, I invite you to sign up for my free 90-minute Aerodynamic Giving Workshop. You can read more about it and register by clicking the button below.

Navigating the waters of strategic planning is no small feat. It’s akin to steering a ship, plotting the quickest and most efficient course to the desired destination. But like any journey, obstacles arise – debris that can slow you down or reroute your course altogether.

The role of philanthropic strategy is to take the present state of your philanthropy and move it to your desired future state, ideally as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, most Grantmakers move at the strategic speed of sloths!

But before you can speed up philanthropic strategy development, you must take notice of what’s slowing you down. A variety of obstacles commonly get in the way of strategy development in foundations. These barriers, hurdles, and bumps in the road constitute strategic friction — slowing you down and wearing you out. You must be constantly on alert and ready to address them when they find their way into your planning efforts.

Here are three of the most common sources of strategic friction no matter what size your organization is—from a solo philanthropist to a global foundation:

1. Ridiculously long strategic planning processes.

It’s easy to mistakenly assume that strategy development is supposed to take one to two years and consume your team’s time and attention. After all, you look around at your colleagues and they appear exhausted from their 18-month strategic planning processes! Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?

No.

If you spend 12-18 months refreshing your strategy, by the time it’s finalized the landscape will have shifted, rendering the strategy outdated! Furthermore, the prolonged process can leave teams drained and less enthusiastic about execution.

There’s nothing that says philanthropic strategy formulation should take a year, six months, or any other fixed amount of time. Put your assumptions aside and try something new. Why not try to set your strategy in a month—or in a week, or even in a day or two? You might be surprised at how quickly you can get the job done when you and your team are fully focused on it.

2. Obsession with data collection.

What’s really sucking up a lot of time with lengthy strategic planning processes is lengthy data gathering. Environmental scans, learning tours, listening sessions, commissioning research, evaluations, focus groups, board self-assessments, and so on. While gathering information, understanding community needs, and identifying best practices is critical, you can’t let it grind you to a halt.

One foundation CEO retained me to advise her in refreshing her foundation’s strategic plan. She asked if I could also first conduct an environmental scan to compare her foundation to other foundations in town. Although I could have garnered a hefty consulting fee for the project, I told her this was the last thing she should do. Not only was this comparing apples to oranges (comparing a family foundation to a community foundation, private foundations, and corporate giving programs, all of varying sizes and funding interests), but it had nothing to do with this particular foundation’s strategy and would cause unnecessary delays.

I recommend two things to help ensure data gathering doesn’t slow you down. First, separate “data gathering” from “strategy formulation”—the former should inform the latter. Both don’t need to be lumped into one “strategic planning” bucket. Second, take the time to continually learn. That way you don’t have to embark on a one-off data-gathering exercise to prepare for philanthropic strategy formulation. You should be able to quickly and easily assemble the information you already have.

3. Style over substance.

There is so much weight put into the strategic plan document, that it can be incredibly difficult to muster the courage to pull the trigger and take the first steps toward implementation.

Imagine this: You’ve just completed your strategy development retreat, and it was a resounding success! What should happen next is you identify your top implementation priorities, assign people to be accountable to each of them, and begin implementing your new strategy – starting tomorrow.

Instead, funders toss debris in their way. They decided to devote the next three months to crafting a beautifully written strategic plan document, complete with the history of the foundation, eye-catching infographics, and a complex theory of change. Once it’s been proofread, copy-edited, and finalized, it is sent to the board for approval (even though the board already approved the strategy at the retreat). But the board doesn’t meet again for two months! Now the foundation waits before it can begin implementation. In other words, you just added a five-month delay to the implementation of your new strategy.

In reality, the simpler the summation of your new philanthropic strategy, the more likely you will get it done. Don’t waste time and money adding all the bells and whistles that look great but don’t contribute to the likelihood that you’ll actually do what you say you’ll do. Summarize your strategy in a two-page Word document the day after the retreat. Share it with your entire team and start implementing it immediately!

Being an effective philanthropist is already challenging enough: dismantling racist systems within and outside your institutions, working across issues and communities, navigating rapidly changing political and economic landscapes, managing your staff and board, and learning from grantees doing critical work on the ground. Don’t add to your own challenges by creating strategic friction that slows you down!

Want to learn more ways to eliminate strategic friction? Join my upcoming workshop, Aerodynamic Giving: Minimize Strategic Friction and Find Your Fastest Path to Impact. It’s free. It’s virtual. And it’s exclusively for foundation CEOs and Trustees. During the workshop, I will share six MORE sources of strategic friction that slow funders down. You don’t want to miss it. Click the button below to learn more and RSVP today!

However, they need not be a source of anxiety or disruption. With thoughtful planning and the right stakeholders, foundations can craft a streamlined executive transition and succession plan that not only ensures a seamless leadership shift but also strengthens the organization and amplifies its impact.

In fact, with the right approach, foundation executive transition planning can become a powerful tool for organizational enhancement.

1. Begin with a Vision of the Ideal Future.

Every journey starts with a destination in mind. Before diving into the intricacies of transition, visualize your foundation’s perfect post-transition scenario. How would stakeholders react if the new CEO integrates seamlessly and even surpasses expectations? By rooting your foundation executive transition plan in shared aspirations, you move beyond mere transactional activities, setting a tone of optimism and forward-thinking.

2. Strengthen Organizational Governance.

The foundation’s governance structure plays a pivotal role during transitions. Assess the readiness and roles of trustees in this phase. Are your bylaws current, or do they reflect outdated realities? By ensuring that governance structures are modern and flexible, you pave the way for the new executive director to operate without being encumbered by legacy issues, making the transition smoother.

3. Optimize Organizational Structure.

An executive transition is an opportune moment to evaluate the organization’s structural efficiency. Does the current organizational chart, especially concerning the CEO’s duties, need tweaking? Redistributing tasks can free up the new leader’s time for strategic initiatives and implementing the foundation’s executive transition plan. Moreover, this period might be ripe for staff restructuring, aligning with fresh strategic visions and ensuring agility.

4. Ensure Operational Efficiency.

Operational bottlenecks can deter potential leaders. Address inefficiencies, streamline processes, and consider the future of underperforming members. An efficient foundation not only attracts top-tier leadership talent but also ensures that the new leader isn’t immediately bogged down by bureaucracy. A smooth internal operation can be a significant draw for prospective executives, showcasing the foundation’s commitment to excellence.

5. Prioritize Strategic Goals.

While transitions are pivotal, they shouldn’t eclipse the foundation’s ongoing strategic goals. It’s essential to strike a balance—adjusting timelines and priorities without losing momentum. While recruiting the right executive is a pressing concern, sidelining other organizational priorities can be detrimental in the long run. A balanced approach ensures continuity and progress.

6. Approach Recruitment Deliberately.

Recruitment is more than just filling a vacancy—it’s about future-proofing the foundation. Whether you’re considering a full-service search firm or leveraging your network, the emphasis should be on quality. A well-crafted job description, a clear recruitment strategy, and a structured interview process can make all the difference. Thoughtful recruitment not only attracts the right talent but also sets the tone for the foundation’s future direction.

7. Set Up the New Leader for Success.

The initial days of a new leader can set the trajectory for their tenure. A comprehensive onboarding plan, mentorship opportunities, and possibly an executive advisor can be invaluable. Consider how the outgoing executive can play a supportive role. By ensuring the new leader has all the tools and guidance they need from day one, you’re not just facilitating their integration but also investing in the foundation’s future.

8. Facilitate Knowledge Transfer.

A new CEO should never be in the dark. From databases and organizational history to introductions with key stakeholders, ensure they have access to all pertinent information. This proactive approach not only speeds up the new CEO’s acclimatization but also ensures that no institutional knowledge is lost in the transition. A smooth knowledge transfer is a crucial component of foundation executive transition planning, ensuring continuity and maintaining the foundation’s operational rhythm.

9. Prioritize Clear Communication.

Transparency is the cornerstone of trust. Identify all stakeholders and devise a communication strategy tailored to each group. The timing, mode, and content of communication can significantly influence perceptions. By ensuring that all parties, from board members and community members, are kept in the loop, you are fostering an environment of trust and collaboration, which is vital during periods of change.

10. Uphold Legal and Financial Responsibilities.

Amidst the whirlwind of executive transitions, legal and financial obligations remain paramount. Ensuring assets are managed, bills are paid on time, taxes are filed, and all compliance measures are met is non-negotiable. A foundation that remains steadfast in its commitments, even during transitions, showcases its reliability and integrity, further solidifying its reputation.

In conclusion, foundation executive transitions, when approached with foresight and strategy, can be more than just a change in leadership—they can mitigate risk and catalyze organizational growth. If you’re at the helm of a foundation, consider leveraging these transitions as opportunities for rejuvenation and evolution.

And speaking of opportunity! I have another opportunity for you to join me at my Succession Planning Event in October. My free, 90-minute guided workshop helps foundation CEOs and trustees go from “Overwhelmed” to “Oh, I got this!” when tackling succession planning & avoiding the costly mistakes of procrastination. Learn simple yet powerful tools to solve larger organizational challenges and maximize philanthropic impact. Click the button below to RSVP today!

This article was originally written for and published by Forbes.com.

© 2023 Kris Putnam-Walkerly. All rights reserved. Permission granted to excerpt or reprint with attribution.

Even better, you can leverage foundation executive transition planning to optimize operations, strengthen the organization, and magnify your impact. With the right mindset and planning, executive transition planning is your secret superpower!

Here are 11 key elements you can incorporate into your foundation’s executive transition plan:

1. Envision Your Ideal Future State

Before you do anything else, paint a vivid picture of your foundation’s ideal future, post-transition. What would the foundation look like if the executive transition is executed perfectly? How will it feel if your new CEO hits the ground running and you couldn’t be more pleased with the results? What would need to be different about your foundation to achieve that? Asking these questions and others grounds the succession plan in shared aspirations, rather than limiting your plan to transactional transition activities.

2. Get Your House in Order

Seize this transition moment to get your house in order. Are there inefficiencies to fix or processes to streamline before the next CEO starts? Is there a toxic board member or underperforming employee who needs to be tactfully exited? I always advise funders to seize executive transitions as opportunities to strengthen their foundation. In fact, I view this as your superpower! This ensures your organization is more appealing to attract top talent. It also eases the transition when the new CEO is not immediately burdened by bureaucratic processes and frustrating headwinds.

For example, one of my private foundation clients recognized that too much of the current CEO’s time was spent on lower-level administrative tasks and managing a complex grant application process. They decided to delegate those tasks to other staff and outsource the application management to an intermediary organization. This freed up the CEO’s time to focus on strategy implementation and succession planning. It also made the job more appealing to prospective candidates. You want to present your best organizational face to attract talented leadership.

3. Strengthen Governance

Assess trustee readiness to engage deeply in the transition process. Clarify specific board member roles in developing and implementing your foundation’s executive transition plan. Establish board term limits if they don’t currently exist. Craft onboarding materials to orient new trustees during this period of change.

This is also a great time to review bylaws and update them if needed. Often, they contain outdated provisions that no longer make sense. For example, one family foundation client realized that their now-deceased donor had named specific individuals to serve as successor board members and wrote them into the by-laws. Those individuals were now in their 80s and 90s and were no longer connected to the family or interested in board service! The foundation updated its by-laws to ensure the new executive director wasn’t hamstrung by impossible governance expectations.

4. Optimize Staffing

Determine if your organizational chart changes make sense, especially regarding the CEO’s current duties. Can existing or new staff take on some of their work to free up strategic time for the next leader? You may also want to use this transition to thoughtfully exit underperforming team members and empower the new CEO to build their own team over time. Or you might need to hire for a critical role to ensure stability during the transition.

For example, when one foundation’s founding executive director retired after 25 years, they took the opportunity to reorganize staff around their new strategic plan. This allowed the incoming leader to hit the ground running rather than inherit dated staff configurations.

5. Stay Focused on Your North Star

While foundation executive transition planning is critical, stay centered on implementing your current strategic plan amidst the activity. Adjust timelines and priorities as needed but avoid losing momentum. Hiring the right new executive is likely priority #1 right now. But in the meantime, don’t put everything else on hold.

6. Recruit and Hire with Intention

Decide how you want to approach recruitment and hiring. Avoid the tendency to make assumptions based on what your colleagues are doing. Do you need a full-service search firm? Or can you identify enough potential candidates in your organization and networks and manage the process yourself? Take time to develop a compelling job description and recruitment strategy to draw your ideal candidates. Develop your process and timeline for interviews, selection, and making an offer.

7. Position Your New Leader for Success

Create a detailed onboarding plan to support the new ED on day one and beyond. Determine if and how the outgoing executive director might be available to train and support the incoming executive director. Assign them a mentor on the board and an executive coach to provide guidance during this transition time. Avoid burdening them with major events and deliverables before they have their bearings.

For example, one foundation board decided to retain the outgoing executive director as a consultant to train her replacement, make key introductions, and help with special projects. They retained me to advise them both, separately and together, for the first six months to help the new leader navigate his role, ensure a healthy transition, and prevent any role confusion.

8. Transfer Institutional Knowledge

There is much information and knowledge to convey to a new CEO. Take time to assess what knowledge should be transferred, how that will happen, and what you can do in advance to simplify this process. This might include cleaning up databases, developing procedures manuals, clarifying calendars, ensuring access to files, and documenting organizational history. You will also want to make introductions to key partners, grantees, and vendors.

9. Communicate Proactively

Effective communication is a vital aspect of foundation executive transition planning, requiring thoughtful consideration even before the job announcement is made. It involves identifying all stakeholders, such as board members, staff, grantees, partners, field leaders, colleague foundations, community members, local media, and others who might have an interest in the transition.

The process must be tailored to ensure that different categories of people are notified in ways that suit their relationship with the organization, ranging from emails to personal phone calls or even in-person meetings. Timing is crucial, with some stakeholders needing to be informed before the job announcement is released or the new hire’s press release is issued.

Additionally, the “where” and “how” of communication must be considered, whether via email, scheduled meetings, or opportune gatherings like conferences where the new CEO can meet multiple key people. This multifaceted approach to communication ensures transparency, builds trust and helps foster new relationships, all of which contribute to a smooth and successful transition.

10. Maintain Legal and Fiscal Compliance

Your foundation’s executive transition might not go as smoothly as you hope. The last thing you want to do is drop the ball when it comes to legal compliance, financial management, or asset management. Keep assets well-managed, bills paid, taxes filed, and compliance ensured during the leadership change.

11. “Abducted by Aliens” Contingency Plan

While it may sound humorous, having a contingency plan for unanticipated scenarios such as your CEO being hit by the proverbial bus or being unexpectedly terminated is wise. This might include identifying in advance who would step in as interim CEO and outlining the communication and search process. This ensures that the foundation is prepared to immediately respond to unforeseen circumstances.

Foundation executive transition and succession planning don’t have to feel overwhelming or daunting. With the right guidance and a well-structured plan, it can be a simplified and rewarding process. If you are a foundation CEO or trustee and ready to take the next step in your foundation’s future, I invite you to join me for an upcoming free virtual workshop called The Simplified Succession Plan. Together, we’ll demystify the process and set you on the path to a successful transition.

In the world of philanthropy, solid leadership is a cornerstone for success. However, many foundations — be it private, family, corporate, or community-based — overlook one crucial aspect of leadership: succession planning. Here, I highlight seven scenarios demonstrating the range of problems that can ensue when foundations neglect this vital process.

1. The Leadership Vacuum:

In this private foundation, the CEO’s abrupt retirement created a sudden and unexpected void. Faced with the pressure to maintain operations and continue grant programs, the board hastily appointed a seemingly qualified candidate. However, over time, this decision revealed its true cost. While the new director was skilled in management, they lacked a thorough understanding of the foundation‘s mission and the unique challenges and opportunities within its philanthropic landscape. This led to ill-informed decisions, misdirected programs, and misallocated resources. Partnerships were strained, beneficiaries experienced unexpected disruption, and the foundation’s reputation suffered.

2. The Resistant-to-Change Board:

Board members play a crucial role in guiding a foundation’s direction. However, without term limits and a clear succession plan, board members of this foundation overstayed their welcome, leading to stagnation. Despite their declining active participation, they resisted the influx of new ideas and innovation, preferring the comfort of familiar methods and the prestige of their roles. The lack of fresh perspectives hampered the foundation’s ability to adapt to the changing philanthropic landscape, affecting its ability to maximize its impact.

3. The Misaligned Community Foundation:

In another instance, the executive director of a community foundation resigned without warning, leaving the board with a significant leadership gap. In the absence of a foundation succession plan, they turned to a prominent local businessman, hoping his reputation would maintain the organization’s standing. However, this new leader brought a profit-focused mindset that was fundamentally out of sync with the foundation’s community-oriented mission. The result was a gradual yet significant shift in the foundation’s projects and programs, veering away from grassroots initiatives and towards more high-profile, less community-relevant undertakings. Over time, the foundation’s work became increasingly disconnected from the needs of the community it had pledged to serve, undermining its effectiveness and credibility.

4. The Strategic Stagnation:

The sudden departure of a foundation’s founder can leave an organization in turmoil. In this scenario, a foundation that had been making significant strides in clean energy funding was left leaderless after its founder unexpectedly stepped down. With no successor groomed to carry forward the founder’s strategic initiatives, progress quickly stalled. Plans were postponed, projects lost momentum, and grantees were left in an uncertain lurch. The consequences were felt most acutely by the very communities and causes the foundation was designed to support.

5. The Legal Labyrinth:

Without a clear foundation succession plan, this family foundation faced an insidious risk: a drawn-out legal battle. Upon the unexpected death of the donor, multiple potential successors laid claim to the helm, leading to disputes over roles, authority, and control of the foundation’s direction. The result was a costly and time-consuming legal quagmire that sapped the foundation’s resources, both financial and human. This diversion of resources left significantly less for actual philanthropic activities and undermined the trust and morale within the foundation and family.

6. The Talent Drain Dilemma:

A foundation’s strength lies not just in its financial resources, but also its human capital. However, in the absence of a clear career progression path and foundation succession plan, a corporate foundation experienced a consistent exodus of high-potential staff members. These individuals, seeing no opportunities for advancement and little stability in leadership, chose to seek greener pastures. Over time, the organization’s capability and effectiveness weakened as institutional knowledge was lost, the workload increased for remaining staff, and the costs of hiring and training new staff mounted.

7. The Donor Deficit:

The transition of leadership in a public charity can be a delicate period, especially when it comes to maintaining the confidence of donors. In this case, a rocky transition following the departure of a charismatic leader caused several key donors to question the foundation’s future. Fearing instability and a potential shift in the foundation’s vision, they chose to withhold their usually significant donations. The resulting financial shortfall had severe implications, forcing the organization to scale back its programs and breaking its commitments to grantees and beneficiaries.

These scenarios underline the critical importance of sound succession planning in foundations. The process may seem complex, but foundation succession planning is much easier than you think! And the consequences of neglecting it can be disruptive and damaging.

Don’t gamble with your organization’s future. Equip yourself with the knowledge and strategies needed to build a robust foundation succession plan. Secure your foundation’s mission and ensure its long-term success by joining my upcoming workshop, designed exclusively for foundation CEOs and Trustees: “The Simplified Succession Plan.” Click the button below to secure your spot today!

In a recent conversation, a group of foundation leaders discussed strategies to ensure board engagement while pursuing a bold vision. Here’s what they shared:

1. Set Clear Goals and Communicate Them

Be transparent with your board about your vision, whether it’s a billion-dollar foundation or a significant impact in a specific area. Clearly define the strategic plan and the capabilities needed to achieve your strategy.

2. Embrace Discomfort

Aiming for ambitious goals means getting comfortable with discomfort. Recognize that growth and change can be challenging. Encourage a culture where staff and board members can openly discuss their fears and concerns.

3. Foster Trust and Open Communication

To create a strong foundation, and build trust between the foundation’s board of directors and staff. Encourage open lines of communication and create a culture of candor, where people feel safe discussing their concerns and sharing their thoughts.

4. Encourage Boldness and Adaptability

Support the idea of taking risks and being open to course correction. Help trustees understand that not everything will go according to plan. It’s important to learn from setbacks, embrace previously unanticipated opportunities, and adjust as needed.

5. Establish Regular Check-Ins and Monitoring

Keep the board informed about the progress of the strategy by having regular check-ins and reporting on successes and challenges. This will help the board maintain confidence in the team’s ability to manage the foundation effectively.

6. Clarify Roles and Responsibilities

Ensure that the foundation board of directors is clear on its domain of oversight and fiduciary responsibility, and the responsibilities of the CEO and staff in executing the strategy. This will help avoid confusion and micromanagement and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.

7. Create a Strong CEO-Board Chair Relationship

One of the top indicators of a healthy foundation (or any nonprofit) is a strong relationship between the CEO and the board chair. Make sure this relationship is nurtured and maintained throughout the foundation’s growth journey.

8. Provide Professional Development Opportunities

Invest in the ongoing professional development of both board members and staff. Offer training, workshops, strategic advisement, and coaching that will enhance their knowledge and skills in governance, philanthropy, and relevant subject areas.

9. Ensure Board Diversity and Inclusivity

Promote diversity within the foundation board of directors, ensuring that it represents and embraces diverse experiences and expertise, especially those whose lived experience reflects the issues they are trying to address and the communities they seek to help. Fresh ideas and unique perspectives can generate more innovative, effective, and equitable strategies.

10. Celebrate Successes and Learn from Failures

Acknowledge and celebrate the foundation’s accomplishments, big and small. This will keep the board engaged and motivated. Equally important, openly discuss and learn from any setbacks or challenges. By fostering a culture that values both successes and learning opportunities, the board and staff will be more resilient and adaptable in the face of change.

Embracing boldness and discomfort is essential for foundation boards of directors to support big visions. By implementing these strategies, foundation leaders can cultivate a culture of openness, adaptability, and trust among their board members. Remember, achieving ambitious goals requires collective effort and engagement. If you need assistance in implementing any of these ideas or navigating the complexities of foundation governance, I encourage you to schedule a call with me. Together, we can work towards realizing your bold vision and making a meaningful impact in the communities you serve.

P.S. — Don’t miss out on the opportunity to attend my Simplified Succession Plan Workshop! Secure your spot today and gain practical strategies for seamless leadership transitions. Register now and empower your organization’s future success!

Reason #1 You’re Not Going to Live Forever (sorry, but it’s true)

In 7th grade, my science teacher told us we didn’t have to do our homework or even come to school. The only thing we HAD to do was die. While that lesson initially shocked us, it was a powerful reminder of life’s inevitability. So, dear philanthropist, you may have 40 years, 40 months, or 40 weeks left, but eventually, you’ll need to answer the question: Who’s going to make decisions about our philanthropy when I’m no longer around? A foundation succession plan will help you answer that question and put it into motion.

Reason #2 You still want to have a say when you’re no longer around

After all the work you’ve put into creating your foundation, it’s only natural to want to have a say in its future direction. A foundation succession plan ensures that your funding, values, and decision-making processes are passed on to the next generation in a manner that aligns with your vision. It also allows you the opportunity to create flexibility so that future generations can navigate change, tackle problems, and leverage opportunities we cannot imagine today.

Reason #3 You don’t want to screw up your family

Creating a legacy is wonderful. But not if it leads to family infighting. A lack of foundation succession planning can leave your loved ones second-guessing your intentions, or worse, fighting amongst themselves over how the foundation should be run. To prevent these fractures in your family, take the time to develop a plan, clarify your values, and establish what you’d like for the future of your foundation.

One key mistake to avoid:

When developing your foundation’s succession plan, avoid the mistake of trying to direct your foundation from the grave. While a succession plan is crucial, it should include room for future generations to learn, grow, and experiment. Allow them the freedom to develop their own philanthropic muscles and leadership experiences, including their failures.

Here’s an example: I’ve advised several family foundations where the donor named in their will the specific individuals they wanted to join the board, and in what order. In all instances, long after the donor had passed away those individuals were no longer connected to the family or the foundation, were elderly, or were no longer interested in joining the board. Instead of dictating board member choices, offer criteria and guidance to help the next generation of leaders make informed decisions.

By addressing the three real reasons for a foundation succession plan, you’ll not only secure your legacy but also set your family foundation up for continued success long after you’re gone. So, let’s confront our mortality with a touch of humor and a plan to ensure our philanthropic endeavors thrive well into the future.

Want to learn how to create your foundation succession plan? Join me for a free, virtual workshop, “The Simplified Succession Plan: Your Foundation’s Untapped Superpower.”

Summertime has arrived! Yes, it’s time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the sweet languor of the lazy summer vacation. Whether you’re soaking up the sun on a pristine beach, exploring the rugged beauty of the mountains, or simply enjoying the tranquility of your backyard, there’s an undeniable charm in taking a break and letting your mind wander.

As you unplug from the relentless buzz of your everyday routine, I invite you to embrace a summer challenge that could potentially revolutionize your philanthropy journey. It’s simple, yet transformative. It’s personal, yet expansive. It requires nothing but your own permission.

Breathe in the fresh summer air. Allow yourself to dream big. Welcome any and all thoughts – even those that seem wildly unconventional. Yes, this is your time to reimagine your philanthropy – from the ground up.

Picture this: You’re starting anew, equipped with the financial resources of your philanthropy and the wisdom you’ve accumulated over the years. You’re unbound by preconceived notions of how philanthropy “should” be done. Now, how would you go about it?

Here are a few provocations to jump-start your summer daydream:

• What would your foundation look like if you had a do-over – if you could build it from scratch today? Or would you choose not to have a foundation at all? What other forms could your philanthropy take?
• If you could wave a magic wand and make one transformative change in your charitable giving, what would it be?
• How could you leverage your assets—people, knowledge, relationships, investments, reputation—to create a positive impact on the communities and causes you cherish, even without making direct grants?
• Imagine you or your foundation receiving a prestigious philanthropy award. What accomplishment would you want to be recognized for?
• What emerging innovations, whether inside or outside of philanthropy, have piqued your interest? How could you harness them to amplify your impact?
• What’s one risk you haven’t taken in your philanthropy, but you wish you had? How might it have changed your approach or outcomes?”
• What do YOU genuinely desire from your philanthropic journey?
• What obstacles stand in your way? Why?

Remember, the goal here is not to sweat the small stuff. This is your chance to dream big, to reimagine your philanthropy in ways that inspire and energize you. Scribble your thoughts in a journal or record them on your phone. Let them marinate as you continue to savor your summer break.

When vacation time draws to a close, revisit these ideas. Do they still ignite that spark within you? If so, it’s likely they’ll inspire others as well. Harness their potential to inject something fresh and dynamic into your philanthropy and the world it serves.

As a strategic advisor to leading philanthropists and foundation CEOs for over 20 years, I’ve witnessed the transformative power of bold, innovative thinking in philanthropy. My clients share a common aspiration: to effect meaningful change through their giving. However, they often find themselves held back by various obstacles. My mission is to help you navigate these challenges, fostering greater clarity, impact, and joy in your philanthropic journey.

Ready to put your summer dream into action? Let’s work together to turn your vision into a reality. Schedule a call with me and we’ll chart a course for your transformational giving journey. I can’t wait to hear about your summer daydreams and help you convert them into actionable strategies that amplify your impact. Your summer philanthropy challenge begins now. Are you ready to rise to the occasion?

By partnering with these advisors, foundations can maximize their impact, improve their operations, and navigate the complex landscape of philanthropy with confidence. In this blog, I have highlighted 20 ways they can support and strengthen your organization.

1. Formulating your strategy: Philanthropy advisors for foundations can help you craft a transformational giving strategy that aligns with your mission and values, ensuring a focused and effective approach to grantmaking. This includes clarifying where you are today, where you want to be, and a plan to get there.

2. Implementing your strategy: Once your foundation creates its strategic plan, you need to implement it! Advisors can assist in translating your strategic plan into actionable steps, providing guidance on resource allocation, monitoring progress, and making course corrections.

3. Identifying your top priorities: Philanthropy can be overwhelming. With their expertise, advisors help foundations identify your top priorities for implementing your strategy and stay accountable for implementing them. They can also help you pinpoint the most pressing issues and opportunities, allowing for targeted investments that create the greatest impact.

4. Starting a foundation: From legal requirements to defining a mission, setting objectives, creating governance structures, and determining grantee selection criteria, philanthropy advisors for foundations guide every facet of launching a new charitable entity, guaranteeing a solid base for enduring success.

5. Identifying your funding interests: Some funders launch their foundations with a clear passion and focus, knowing exactly which causes and organizations to support. For the rest of us, however, it can be overwhelming to determine which issues to tackle. Advisors can help you explore your funding interests, assess alignment with your values, and make data-driven decisions about where to invest your resources.

6. Sunsetting a foundation: Many foundations are deciding to allocate all assets now for greater impact instead of existing in perpetuity. Philanthropy advisors can help you determine if and how you want to conclude operations, guide winding down activities, and create a “Foundation Sunset Master Plan” to ensure a meaningful legacy.

7. Creating a succession plan: How will funding decisions be made when the donors are no longer involved? What happens if our executive director leaves? Advisors can help you develop a comprehensive succession plan, prepare for leadership transitions, ensure a seamless transfer of knowledge, relationships, and responsibilities, and support the continuity of your mission.

8. Assessing and improving organizational culture: By evaluating your foundation’s culture, advisors can identify areas for improvement and provide tailored recommendations for fostering a healthy, inclusive, and high-performing organization.

9. Eliminating strategic friction that slows funders down: Advisors can pinpoint areas of inefficiency, misalignment, or miscommunication within your foundation, and provide solutions to streamline operations and enhance collaboration. This helps your foundation optimize its processes, leading to more impactful and timelier grantmaking.

10. Unifying the foundation’s leadership team: Advisors work with leadership teams to establish shared goals, improve communication, and facilitate collaboration for a more cohesive and effective organization.

11. Strengthening and aligning boards: By assessing board composition, structure, and practices, advisors provide recommendations to enhance board effectiveness and alignment with the foundation’s strategic vision. A well-aligned and high-functioning board is essential for effective governance and decision-making.

12. Coaching and advising foundation leaders: It’s lonely at the top! Philanthropy advisors for foundations offer tailored coaching and advisement to philanthropy executives and donors, providing a confidential sounding board and helping them develop leadership skills, achieve foundation goals, and navigate the complexities of leading philanthropy.

13. Facilitating collaboration and partnerships with other organizations: Philanthropy advisors can identify potential partners, foster collaboration, and develop joint initiatives that amplify impact. By leveraging synergies and pooling resources with like-minded organizations, your foundation can achieve more together than by working alone.

14. Ensuring legal and regulatory compliance: Advisors help foundations navigate complex legal and regulatory environments, minimizing risk and ensuring compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. This support protects your foundation’s reputation and helps maintain public trust in your work.

15. Providing guidance on grantmaking processes and best practices: How will potential grantees apply for funds? How will you decide which nonprofits to support? From application review to grantee reporting, advisors offer expert advice on streamlining grantmaking processes and implementing best practices.

16. Conducting due diligence on potential grantees: Advisors support foundations in thoroughly vetting potential grant recipients, ensuring that investments are directed toward organizations most aligned with your goals and strategy and best positioned for success.

17. Identifying opportunities for capacity building and technical assistance: One of the most effective ways philanthropists can support nonprofits is to help them build talent and organizational capacity. Philanthropy advisors for foundations can pinpoint areas where grantees may need additional support, and help foundations allocate resources to address these needs.

18. Evaluating and refining grantmaking portfolios: Advisors assist foundations in regularly reviewing their grant portfolios, evaluating effectiveness, and identifying trends. By conducting in-depth analyses and gathering feedback from grantees and stakeholders, advisors can provide data-driven insights and recommendations for refining your grantmaking strategies, reallocating resources, and uncovering new opportunities for impactful investments, ultimately ensuring your foundation’s philanthropic efforts remain relevant, adaptive, and high-impact.

19. Promoting inclusion, diversity, equity, and access within the foundation and its grantmaking: Philanthropy advisors for foundations can help identify and address systemic barriers, fostering a more equitable and accessible organization and approach to grantmaking. For example, they can assist in developing policies, practices, and grantmaking strategies that prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion, and access as well as provide training and support for staff and board members to build cultural competence and create an inclusive work environment.

20. Advising on ethical considerations and responsible philanthropy: With their expertise in the field, philanthropy advisors can guide navigating ethical dilemmas, ensuring that foundations maintain the highest standards of integrity and accountability. This may include advice on responsible investing, transparency, conflicts of interest, and best practices for engaging with grantees and communities.

In conclusion, philanthropy advisors play a vital role in empowering and strengthening foundations, providing expert guidance and support in a wide array of areas. By partnering with these advisors, foundations can maximize their impact, improve their operations, and navigate the complex landscape of philanthropy with confidence.

If you’re looking to unlock your foundation’s potential and take your philanthropy to new heights, I’m here to help. With over two decades of experience as a trusted philanthropy advisor, I can guide you through every step of the process. Click the button below to schedule a call with me today and start making a greater impact with your philanthropy!

Putnam Consulting Group has been named a finalist in the Philanthropy Advice category for the 10th Annual Family Wealth Report Awards 2023. This is the second consecutive year we have been honored with this prestigious recognition, having won the award in 2022. The winners will be announced during the Gala Ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City on May 4, 2023. This recognition by the Family Wealth Report Awards is a testament to our dedication to providing high-quality philanthropic advice to affluent families, family offices, and family foundations.

The awards acknowledge the most innovative and exceptional firms, teams, and individuals serving the family office, family wealth, and trusted advisor communities in North America. With a rigorous, thorough, and independent judging process, the awards genuinely represent excellence in family wealth management and philanthropy.

We are incredibly proud to be listed among such outstanding competitors and appreciate your continued support in our mission to transform philanthropy and elevate the impact of our clients’ charitable giving.

In light of the largest wealth transfer in history, with $80 trillion projected to be passed down over the next 20 years, we are committed to assisting wealth advisors in expanding their charitable giving planning. To that end, we have created a free resource, 5 Charitable Giving Mistakes That Cost Advisors Money, specifically for advisors of ultra-high-net-worth clients. This guide aims to help advisors confidently expand their philanthropic service offerings and support their clients’ charitable giving goals.

Thank you for being a part of the Putnam Consulting Group community. We look forward to continuing to provide you with trusted advisory, tailored consulting, and strategy development services that make a meaningful difference in the world of philanthropy.

Learn more about us at putnam-consulting.com, and please feel free to reach out to me at +1-800-598-2102 or schedule a call with me.

By focusing on the lasting difference you want to make, you can create a more purposeful and enduring philanthropic legacy that will continue to inspire and influence positive change for future generations.

As a trusted advisor to a wide range of philanthropic clients, I understand the importance of establishing a clear and impactful philanthropic legacy.

In this blog post, we will explore four key questions that can help clarify your philanthropic legacy and ensure that it continues to thrive for generations to come.

1. How do we want the world to be different when we (or our foundation) are no longer around?

Legacy should define what you want your philanthropy to be remembered for: What do you want to be different in the world as a result of your charitable giving? What are the transformative changes you hope to achieve and how will they be sustained beyond the lifespan of your foundation or personal involvement?

Keep in mind there are many potential legacies of philanthropy, ranging from physical structures to robust fields, strong organizations, field knowledge, improved policies, thriving communities, insights for other foundations, philanthropic involvement of your family, and the future leadership of your current staff.

Consider these questions to help shape your desired legacy:

• • How will the lives of individuals and communities be improved as a result of your efforts?
  • What systemic changes do you hope to drive through your philanthropy?
  • What will be the most significant and enduring contribution of your philanthropic work?

2. How will decisions get made when I am no longer around?

An essential aspect of creating a philanthropic legacy is ensuring that the decision-making process remains consistent and aligned with your values even after you are no longer involved.

To accomplish this, consider the following steps:

• • Develop a succession plan: A well-crafted succession plan outlines how future leaders will be selected and prepared, ensuring a smooth transition and continuity in your philanthropy’s mission and vision.
  • Establish a clear governance structure: A robust board of directors, complete with defined roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes, is crucial to the ongoing success of your philanthropic efforts.
  • Engage the next generation: If you have a family foundation, involving younger family members in the decision-making process helps preserve your family’s philanthropic values and fosters a culture of giving that can be passed down through generations. If you have staff, consider what talent development opportunities you can create to support their growth.

3. If I could only accomplish ONE thing in the next year, but it would be my legacy at this organization, what would it be?

I love this question because it gets to the heart of what’s most important. There are lots of things you COULD do this year, but if you can only pick ONE, what would it be?

(I asked myself this question about five years ago, and my answer was “Write a book.” That’s what prompted me to write Delusional Altruism!).

Identifying the single most important objective for your philanthropic legacy can help bring clarity and focus to your giving strategy. Reflect on the following to determine your most significant legacy goal:

• • Identify a high-impact opportunity: What is a pressing issue or unmet need that you have the resources and expertise to address effectively?
  • Think about leverage: What could you put into motion today that will have an enduring impact? This could include clarifying your strategy, professionalizing the foundation, strengthening governance, or launching a new funding initiative.
  • Develop a clear, measurable outcome: Define a specific, achievable outcome that will have a lasting impact on your chosen cause or community.

To give you some ideas, here are a few things I helped my coaching clients do after I asked them this question:

• • Develop a succession plan
  • Implement their strategic plan
  • Create term limits for board members
  • Develop a plan to thoughtfully close (sunset) the foundation
  • Terminate ineffective employees and replace them with top talent
  • Strengthen the foundation by streamlining operations

4. What are the top three things I should do next, to set my legacy in motion?

Once you have a clear vision of your philanthropic legacy, it’s crucial to take actionable steps to make it a reality. Pick three activities you can begin immediately to make progress. Here are some essential considerations:

• • Follow the 80-20 rule: As yourself what are the 20% of activities that will deliver the 80% of results toward establishing and living our legacy? Those should be your top priorities.
  • Develop a plan: Create an action plan that outlines your top priorities, identifies tactics to accomplish each, and assigns accountabilities (who is responsible for what, by when).
  • Get help: It’s hard to do this alone. Consider retaining a philanthropy advisor who can help you clarify your legacy, identify your top priorities, create a roadmap, and help you stay accountable for achieving your legacy.

In conclusion, clarifying your philanthropic legacy is a critical step in maximizing the positive impact of your giving.

By answering these four questions, you can better define your vision and develop a focused giving strategy that ensures your philanthropic legacy will thrive for generations to come.

I understand the tremendous opportunity you have to create change – and also how overwhelming it can feel to navigate it. Please don’t hesitate to schedule a call with me so that I can help you gain the clarity you need to make the greatest impact, no matter the circumstances. Click the button below to schedule that call today!

“Kris’ approach is refreshing! It’s the right approach. She makes sure our philanthropy makes sense — to us and our partners, grantees, and community.” — Sherece West-Scantleberry, Ph.D, President and CEO, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation

Despite these challenges, philanthropy can seize opportunities to use turbulence to our advantage, propelling us toward a more just future.

As a philanthropy advisor, I encourage my clients – ultra-wealthy donors and CEOs of grantmaking foundations and corporate giving programs – to leverage turbulence and disruption as a catalyst for innovation.

By embracing change and uncertainty, we can generate groundbreaking ideas and solutions to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges.

Keep reading for three distinct forms of innovation I learned from one of my coaches, Alan Weiss, that can help funders leverage the power of innovative philanthropy for social good.

Three Forms of Innovation to Fuel Your Philanthropy:

1. Opportunistic Innovation

Opportunistic innovation involves capitalizing on emerging trends or developments to create new products, services, or solutions. This type of innovative philanthropy requires a keen eye for opportunity, allowing funders to pivot and respond to changes in the market. For example, consider the rapid expansion of e-learning platforms in response to the pandemic.

Philanthropists and foundations can support startups and nonprofits that provide innovative educational services, such as AI-powered tutoring or immersive virtual reality learning experiences.

One of my clients Blue Shield of California Foundation, along with Vodafone Foundation of America, funded the creation of an award-winning mobile app called SafeNight, which reaches out to individual donors to cover the cost of hotel rooms for domestic violence victims when local shelters are full.

The app, created by TechSoup and Aidmatrix, could not have been developed had these organizations and funders not been opportunistic. Their innovation in philanthropy was created by capitalizing on the disruptive technology of smartphones and mobile apps in the market.

2. Conformist Innovation

Conformist innovation focuses on drastically improving existing products, services, or processes. This approach is characterized by refining and enhancing current offerings, making them more efficient, cost-effective, or accessible. An example of conformist innovation is the transformation of traditional hotel rooms into a mobile platform that connects travelers with locals who rent out their homes or apartments like Airbnb.

Philanthropists, foundations, and corporate giving programs can invest in or support organizations that apply conformist innovation to address pressing social and environmental issues. For instance, backing clean energy startups that are developing more efficient solar panels or supporting nonprofits that are refining healthcare delivery systems in underserved communities.

The concept of telehealth has been around for over a century (in 1879 an article in the journal Lancet suggested using the telephone to reduce unnecessary office visits!). The use of telehealth exploded at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. So did the mental health needs of young people.

Innovative funders like the California Health Care Foundation responded by dramatically improving telehealth to increase access to high-quality care for low-income Californians, and in settings not previously utilizing this technology.

In this example of innovative philanthropy, their Innovation Fund invested in a pilot program led by San Francisco–based digital health start-up Hazel Health and a school district in California’s Central Valley to use virtual therapy to provide mental health services for young people, test and create this model, and scale the program to schools nationwide.

3. Non-Conformist Innovation

Non-conformist innovation involves creating entirely new products, services, or processes that disrupt the status quo. This type of innovation is often marked by a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom and push boundaries.

Square is a non-conformist innovator that revolutionized the financial services industry by creating a small device that attaches to a smartphone or tablet, enabling businesses to accept credit card payments.

This challenged the conventional wisdom that expensive point-of-sale systems and payment processing equipment were necessary, disrupting the traditional payment processing industry and paving the way for mobile payment solutions.

Philanthropic families, foundations, and corporate funders can fund research and development initiatives that explore groundbreaking ideas to fuel innovative philanthropy, such as biodegradable plastics, lab-grown meat, or advanced AI systems.

During the early 1950s, highways in the United States only had a white stripe down the center of the road and lacked any markings on the sides. John Door, an inventor, engineer, and philanthropist, observed that drivers struggling with low visibility due to darkness or adverse weather conditions often gravitated toward the center line, resulting in disastrous head-on collisions.

Door hypothesized that painting a white line on the outer margin of the road would provide drivers with a visual reference to help them steer away from danger. He funded an experiment in Connecticut through his family foundation and discovered that accident rates dropped by 65 percent once the sides of the road were marked.

This success quickly spread, and soon all states followed suit in painting lines on the sides of their highways.

Today, these lines are a ubiquitous safety feature that originated from the efforts of innovative philanthropy and have become an indispensable aspect of public life.

Through my work as a global philanthropy advisor, I have seen firsthand the transformative power of innovative philanthropy and the profound impact it can have on individuals, families, and communities.

It is crucial for all philanthropists, grantmaking foundations, and corporate giving programs to help their beneficiaries understand and implement innovation.

By embracing the three forms of innovation – opportunistic, conformist, and non-conformist – these organizations can foster growth, impact, and positive change, even during turbulent times.

By surfing the waves of turbulence, we can together build a more innovative and resilient future. Click the link below to schedule a call with me.

Drawing from my conversations with thousands of foundation leaders, spanning 23 years, here are seven prevalent missteps. By paying attention to these mistakes, you can avoid them and ensure your foundation’s success.

Mistake #1: Being stuck in overwhelm

Launching a new foundation or becoming a new foundation leader or trustee can feel overwhelming. The sheer number of problems facing the world, worthy nonprofits to support, and decisions to make could send anyone diving back under the covers. You might also find yourself in unchartered territory, navigating your new role and relationships as a philanthropist. While everyone can feel overwhelmed at times, you don’t want to be stuck there.

According to wellness writer Michelle Rees, “Overwhelm happens when the sheer volume of thoughts, feelings, tasks, and stimuli in our daily environment shifts our brain and nervous system into a reactive, stressed state.” The result? Easy things become hard, and hard things become impossible.

In addition to zapping our creativity and problem-solving skills, overwhelm creates a relentless cycle of inactivity. We stop in our tracks. We don’t know the right path forward, which step to take, or what direction to choose; Overwhelming funders cost money, drain time, and suffocate talent.

Mistake #2: Restricting your potential through a mindset of scarcity

Too many philanthropic foundations confuse thrift and austerity with stewardship and efficiency. While it may appear sensible to be frugal, this approach can impede the expansion, accomplishments, and influence of your foundation.

It is vital to allocate resources to foster growth and development within you, your foundation, and your nonprofit partners. This might include training, technology, creativity, capacity, relationship building, and professional development. Doing so will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your philanthropy and increase your impact velocity.

Mistake #3: Letting it go to your head

Arrogance, bossiness, or condescension on the part of staff and trustees of new philanthropic foundations can have devastating effects on grantee relationships. While it’s wonderful to enjoy your new role as a philanthropy leader and the positive change you can create, don’t let it go to your head. It is essential not to assume that the foundation’s resources are your personal funds.

Avoid favoring causes or organizations that you are most passionate about. Do not create unnecessary obstacles for others to prove the worthiness of your time or attention. Recognizing your role as an equal partner to nonprofit leaders and the communities you aim to support will lead to a greater impact.

Mistake #4: Assuming you have all the answers

I get it, you are brilliant! But no matter how much expertise and know-how you bring to your foundation, there are people who know much more about the issues you are trying to address than you do. Especially those who have lived through it.

It is therefore critical to seek input and guidance from the people you want to help. Learn what they experience, what they desire most, and how you can be supportive. Create an environment where everyone feels comfortable speaking frankly about their views. Be ready to address their concerns in a timely manner to demonstrate that you appreciate their time and willingness to share.

Mistake #5: Operating without a strategy

If you don’t know what you want to accomplish as a philanthropic foundation, it will be hard to accomplish it! But that’s what happens when you operate without a strategy.

Developing your giving strategy does not need to be complicated or time-consuming. Ask yourself: “Who do we want to be as a foundation and what impact do we want to have a year from now?” “Where are we today (be honest)?” and “What should we focus on to move us from where to are today to where we want to be ideally as quickly as possible?”

This will provide you with a clear strategy and roadmap of actions to take.

Mistake #6: Failing to hold yourself accountable

Now that you have your strategy, it’s critical to hold yourself accountable for achieving it. This will help ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals and that decisions are made based on what’s best for the foundation and the communities you serve.

To do this, simply assign people to be accountable for achieving your top priorities. This could be you or your spouse, board members, or the executive team. These folks do not need to do everything, but they need to make sure their specific priority is achieved.

You need to “hold their feet to the fire.” Regularly (e.g., every month or quarter) ask them to report on progress – what’s working, what’s not working, and what course corrections could be made to our strategy, if any?

Mistake #7: Not seeking help

It’s hard to do this alone. No matter how fabulous and successful you are, you might need help.

Investing in people and resources to help you is an excellent use of your time and resources. After all, to have the greatest impact you need to be the greatest philanthropic foundation you can become. This could include joining peer groups sponsored by philanthropy associations, attending conferences and webinars about your funding interests (e.g., corporate philanthropy or early childhood education), investing in a needs assessment to better understand community needs, engaging a consultant to facilitate strategic planning or conduct an environmental scan, hiring someone to manage the foundation, or retaining a philanthropy advisor to help you navigate your philanthropic journey.

Your foundation’s success relies on your ability to recognize and avoid these common mistakes. If you ever find yourself in need of assistance or guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. As a philanthropy advisor with over two decades of experience, I am here to support you on your journey. Schedule a call with me to discuss your concerns, and together, we can ensure your foundation thrives and creates a lasting impact on the communities you serve. Let’s work together to make a difference!

Here’s the thing: the most successful grantmakers are the ones who aren’t afraid to move forward, even when things are uncertain.

Below I share eight tips on how you can make the most of a rapidly changing landscape and plan ahead during uncertain times.

Tip 1: Change Your Mindset

One of the biggest obstacles to progress is a fixed mindset. When we cling too tightly to our plans, we become paralyzed by the fear of the unknown. But as the saying goes, the only constant is change. Rather than allowing the idea of an “unknown future” to paralyze you, let it free you.

Decide to be flexible and agile, recognizing that your plan will almost certainly have to change along the way.

Tip 2: Recalibrate Your Timeline

Gone are the days of spending 18 months to create a five-year strategic plan. By the time you’ve developed your plan, the world will have changed! While setting long-range goals is great, the reality is we can only plan for the next 12 months or so.

Instead of spending months trying to anticipate every possible contingency, focus on what you want to accomplish in the next year. Identify the most important things that need to happen in the short term and be ready to pivot as new opportunities arise.

Tip 3: Don’t Waste Time on Data Collection

Data is important, but it can also be a distraction. Many grantmakers spend too much time and money on one-off data-gathering exercises (learning tours, surveys, environmental scans), only to repeat the process several years later. Instead of trying to collect all new data, focus first on what you already know.

You probably have a wealth of information at your fingertips, and brainstorming with your team and grantees can help you identify any gaps. Move forward with the confidence that you will keep learning.

Tip 4: Focus on the “What” Before the “How”

Starting with tactics before having a clear understanding of your overall strategy is a common mistake among grantmakers. It’s important to first define the “what” you want to accomplish (strategy) before figuring out “how” best to do that (tactics).

You can start by asking “what” questions:

• What do you want to accomplish in the next 12 months?
• What is your objective?
• What is your desired future?

Only after you’ve answered these questions should you start asking “how” questions such as “How can we get from where we are today to where we want to be in the future?”

Tip 5: Identify Top Priorities and Assign Accountabilities

At this point, it might feel like your foundation has 65 urgent things to do. But you can’t focus on 65 priorities or even 15. Pick three. Determine the top three most important things that must happen next to achieve your strategy. Communicate them to everyone, determine who will be accountable for each priority, and measure progress obsessively.

Once those are handled, then you can identify your next top priorities. That way your team is always focused on what’s most important.

Tip 6: Create a Roadmap of Actions to Take—and Take Them 

Take a thorough look at each priority and identify 5-10 next steps to go from your current state to your desired state 12 months from now. Then assign specific individuals and deadlines to each task.

Ensure that everyone involved understands their responsibilities and has a clear action plan. It’s easy to get sidetracked by creating fancy to-do lists or Gantt charts, but don’t let that delay you from implementing your plan.

Focus on taking action. One of the first things you’ll need to do is clear unrelated tasks and commitments from your schedule. This isn’t easy, but it’s essential if you want to stay focused on your top priorities.

Tip 7: Assess and Course-Correct. Then Do That Again. And Again

The future is unknown, so it’s important to check in regularly and adjust as needed. Identify regular intervals (e.g., quarterly), when you’ll review your plan, and ask yourself some key questions:

• What progress have we made?
• Has anything significantly changed externally or internally that might cause us to pivot?
• What should stay the same, what needs to be modified, and what should be abandoned?

Then update your plan, determine top priorities, assign accountabilities, share it with your team, and keep moving!

Tip 8: Don’t Let “Perfect” Be the Enemy of Progress

Finally, remember that perfect is the enemy of progress. As a grantmaker, it’s far better to have a flexible plan that you can adjust as needed than to wait for everything to be just right.

Having a plan gives you something to move on and a framework for making all your day-to-day decisions. Above all, it prevents inaction.

The future is unknown. But by following these eight tips you can plan during uncertain times, make progress, adjust as needed, and change the world!

And if you need help, I am only a phone call away!

Starting a family foundation is a major milestone for wealthy families. It allows them to give back to their communities, support causes they care about, and leave a lasting legacy.

However, once the foundation is established, many families find themselves unsure of where to begin. This can lead to confusion and disorganization, causing the family foundation to become ineffective.

For many, it becomes a source of stress instead of a source of joy. If you recently created your family foundation and need a clear path forward, here are six steps to get you started.

Step 1: Identify vision, mission, purpose, values, and funding priorities

The first step in creating a successful family foundation is to clarify the foundation’s vision, mission, purpose, core values, and funding priorities. This involves asking questions such as:

• “What impact do we want to have?”
• “What do we want to accomplish in the next three to 10 years?”
• “Why does our foundation exist (our raison d’être)?”

It also involves determining what causes and issues the foundation will support and setting specific goals for the foundation to achieve. The foundation’s purpose and priorities should align with the family’s values and beliefs and should be reflective of your unique goals and aspirations.

This process can involve all the family members you anticipate playing an active role in the foundation. After all, everyone’s perspectives and opinions are important in shaping the foundation’s mission and values. However, sometimes this is not feasible. It’s okay to begin with the donors and involve family members, such as children, over time.

Many family foundations also seek to engage diverse perspectives, such as from the communities you want to support, in determining the foundation’s goals and priorities.

Step 2: Define your legacy

To create a successful family foundation, it’s crucial to define legacy early. This allows the foundation’s strategy, decisions, and activities to align with and help achieve your desired legacy.

Legacy refers to what remains after the donors are no longer involved, and how the foundation and family will be remembered by future generations. This involves considering what kind of impact you want the foundation to have, and what type of philanthropic family you want to become.

The type of legacy you wish to leave will directly impact operational decisions, such as the level of privacy you desire or the willingness to publicly share your goals, funding achievements, and lessons learned.

Defining legacy will also help you with future succession planning.

Step 3: Identify potential grantees

Once the foundation’s vision, mission, priorities, and desired legacy are established, the next step is to identify exceptional organizations to support within these funding priorities. This involves researching organizations that are making a meaningful impact in the areas of interest to the foundation and assessing their effectiveness.

The foundation should only support organizations that align with its mission and values. Family foundations might choose to support only nonprofits with a proven track record, or they might be willing to take greater risks by providing seed funding to start-up nonprofits and innovative ideas.

Step 4: Create a simple process to manage the foundation

At this stage, philanthropic families can easily fall into the trap of complexifying the simple. What you want to do instead is simplify the complex! Creating a clear, straightforward, and streamlined process to manage the foundation and giving is crucial.

This includes developing a system for grantmaking, determining how often grants will be awarded and how decisions will be made, and setting up a process for monitoring and evaluating the impact of the grants.

It also could include how you will continuously build trusting relationships with grantees, learn, and make course corrections. The foundation should also establish clear policies and procedures for its operations.

Step 5: Clarify roles and responsibilities

Identifying the family members’ and non-family members’ roles and responsibilities in the foundation is also an important step. This involves determining what activities each family member enjoys and can do, and what type of outside help, if any, might be needed to help manage the foundation and grantmaking.

For example, will the donors be the only ones making funding decisions? Who answers the phone and responds to emails when nonprofits inquire about funding opportunities? Will you create a website and who will update it?

It’s important for each member to understand their responsibilities and to feel fulfilled in their role in the foundation. This can help ensure that the foundation operates smoothly and effectively.

You might need to bring in outside help and expertise, such as executive coaching for a family member who will assume the role of executive director, a consulting firm to manage the foundation, or a trusted philanthropy advisor to facilitate family meetings and help you navigate your philanthropic journey.

Step 6: Engage the next generation

Finally, engaging other family members such as your children, grandchildren, siblings, and cousins in the foundation in meaningful and age-appropriate ways is an important step in ensuring the foundation’s longevity. This involves finding ways to involve them in the foundation’s activities, such as grantmaking, that fit within their priorities and interests.

This can help ensure that the foundation continues to thrive and make a positive impact, even after the original family members are no longer involved.

Creating a family foundation can bring immense satisfaction and fulfillment, but it requires careful planning and effort to ensure its success. By clarifying the foundation’s vision, mission, purpose, values, and funding priorities, identifying effective organizations to support, exploring what “legacy” means, creating a clear and simple process for managing the foundation and giving, identifying family members’ roles and responsibilities, and engaging the next generation of your family in meaningful ways, families can make a significant difference in their communities and the world through their giving.

Starting a family foundation is a big commitment, and it can be challenging to know where to begin. However, with the right guidance and support, families can ensure that their foundation is successful and makes a meaningful impact on the issues they care about.

If you recently set up a family foundation and are looking for expert guidance on how to ensure its success, I would be happy to help. I offer free consultations to families who are looking to create a clear path forward for their foundation.

During our call, we will discuss your goals, challenges, and concerns, and work together to develop a plan that meets your needs. If you’re ready to take the first step towards successfully launching your family foundation, please schedule a call with me today. I look forward to talking with you!

Succession planning in family foundations is crucial in ensuring the longevity and continued success of the foundation. With the shifting of leadership roles, it is important to have a plan in place to transition smoothly and maintain the foundation’s vision, mission, and legacy. This not only protects the foundation’s assets but also sets a clear path for future generations to follow. CEOs and trustees of family foundations have a responsibility to the foundation and its beneficiaries to plan for succession.

What is succession planning for family foundations?

Succession planning for family foundations answers the questions: “What is the future of our family foundation?” and “Who will make decisions for using the funds and what criteria will be used to make those decisions after the donors or current leaders are no longer around?”

“No longer around” could mean they are deceased or incapacitated, have chosen to step back, or perhaps your current executive director plans to retire.

Succession planning ensures the vision and goals of the founding family members are clearly defined, otherwise it might lead to confusion and misunderstandings among extended family members and future trustees, or even be left up to interpretation by the courts.

It is crucial to proactively address the future of the family foundation and ensure that the intentions of the founders are preserved and realized.

15 ways succession planning can help your family foundation

The benefits of succession planning for family foundations are almost endless.

A succession plan can:

1. Preserve the legacy and impact of the foundation and its donors.
2. Clarify donor intent for the foundation.
3. Strengthen governance by answering questions such as: How will decisions be made now and in the future? What changes should we make to our board composition and terms to support the foundation?
4. Clarify trustee and executive director roles and responsibilities, and what involvement they anticipate when the donors are no longer involved in the foundation.
5. Build the leadership capacity of the foundation, such as through executive advisement and coaching to help the executive director effectively lead the foundation through change.
6. Ensure the foundation’s assets are protected and managed effectively, even as leadership changes or if assets dramatically grow through a planned gift. This helps to minimize the risk of mismanagement and ensure the foundation’s resources are used for their intended purpose.
7. Help you prepare for the planned or unplanned departure of your executive director so that you can minimize disruption to the family and foundation and engage the right person to lead your foundation into its next phase.
8. Create guidance on whether the foundation should exist in perpetuity or spend-down, the spend-down time horizon and goals, and what triggers the spend-down.
9. Help prepare for the unexpected by conducting scenario planning and developing plans to mitigate or address them.
10. Create an opportunity to strengthen operations, such as streamlining grantmaking, refreshing your strategic plan, or assessing impact.
11. Provide stability during times of change.
12. Avoid disputes among family members, minimizing the risk of conflict in the family and disruption to the foundation’s operations.
13. Minimize the risk of legal and regulatory issues.
14. Transfer knowledge across generations.
15. Be summarized into a clear, written document so that decisions and plans are transparent to other family members, future board and staff, and other stakeholders.

When should a family foundation create a succession plan?

Just like with voting, it should be done early and often! In all seriousness, the best time to create a succession plan is today. Long before you have an urgent need. It’s far better to have your family foundation succession plan in place now when everyone is healthy and no one plans to leave than when the family is in crisis due to an unexpected death or departure.

A succession plan should also be reviewed and refreshed regularly. This could be done annually or every few years. Things change. Your goals for the foundation may evolve as you learn more about philanthropy and your family’s interest in the foundation.

The economy, your assets, community needs, and regulatory requirements will all change. Your kids might have kids, and suddenly their interests and availability will shift. And now you will have future generations to consider. These changes might spark your desire for a different future for your family foundation.

Wondering where to start? 

If you think you need a succession plan for your family foundation, let’s talk. I’m always happy to schedule a free call to discuss your needs. Together we can determine if a succession plan would help you and what immediate steps you can take. Don’t wait until a crisis hits.

Creating a family foundation succession plan is easier than you think. Getting the pieces in place now will give you peace of mind. And future generations will thank you.

I recently wrote a two-part blog series about the fallacy of requests for proposals (RFPs) as an effective means to find philanthropy advisors and the myths and facts that surround them. If you missed them, you can read the first part here and the second part here.

In both of those blogs, I stressed how important it is to find the right philanthropy advisor or consultant. I guess you could call this blog part three of the RFP series. A philanthropic advisor, with the right characteristics, can make your life easier and your giving exponentially more impactful.

They can help you with any aspect of your philanthropy, from identifying your goals, creating strategies, processes, and structures for achieving them, and determining measures for success. They can help you start a new foundation, sunset an existing one, and everything in between. A great philanthropy advisor will help you recognize what’s holding you back and help you stay accountable to achieving the life and impact you seek. And just as with any other professional advisor, you’ll want to make sure you’ve found the right fit.

But how do you find one? Here are six ways you can find the right philanthropy advisor or consultant for you:

1. Continuously source advisors and consultants

It’s important to continuously meet and build relationships with philanthropy advisors and consultants. That way, when you need help, you likely know several people and firms you can quickly reach out to. Don’t wait until you desperately need a consultant to start looking for one! Reach out to colleagues to learn about their experiences and create a list of talented consultants, advisors, and coaches. One of my clients at a national private foundation always advised his staff to do this as soon as they began working at the foundation. He encouraged them to build their own “stable” of consultants they could turn to for guidance and project support.

2. Use a Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

When looking for an advisor, it can be beneficial to issue a “Request for Qualifications” (RFQ) instead of a “Request for Proposals” (RFP). RFQs are exactly what they sound like – you are requesting consultants to share their qualifications to help you with the project you describe. Then you can follow up with those whose qualifications best match your needs. RFQs are much less time-consuming for you to prepare and review all the responses. It’s also much easier and faster for the philanthropy advisor to submit a two-page list of qualifications than a full-blown proposal. By using an RFQ, you will also likely identify terrific consultants who aren’t the right fit for this particular project but who might be good for future needs. Keep their information as part of your consultant sourcing efforts for future reference.

3. Seek referrals from colleagues

Another effective way to find philanthropy advisors and consultants are through referrals. Word of mouth is often the best source of information. Send an email to colleagues in your organization or at other foundations, family offices, and corporate giving programs briefly describing what you’re looking for and asking for suggestions. You can also use listservs provided by philanthropy-serving organizations and associations to find valuable contacts and referrals. These sources can provide a wealth of information on consultants who have delivered exceptional results in the past. This is also a great way to find diverse philanthropy advisors, such as advisors of color, and consultants who are LGBTQ+, who have disabilities, or who have lived experience in whatever issue you are seeking to address. Because you can state specifically these are the qualifications you are looking for.

4. Intentionally find and build relationships with diverse consultants

Speaking of which, one of the myths I bust in my previous blog about RFPs is that RFPs are a great way to find diverse consultants and advisors. They aren’t. But it is extremely important for philanthropy leaders to actively seek and engage consultants who bring diverse experiences and expertise, especially those whose lived experience reflects the issues they are trying to address and the communities they seek to help.

Instead of issuing an RFP, try this idea. Make a plan to identify and build relationships with 24 BIPOC philanthropy consultants and/or consultants who represent other marginalized communities in 2023. That’s two per month. If that seems like too much, aim for one per month. It doesn’t matter if you don’t plan to retain a consultant anytime soon. Think about all the potential types of help you or your organization could potentially benefit from executive coaching, evaluation, strategic planning, engaging the next generation into family philanthropy, fund development, succession planning, governance, sunsetting your foundation, policy advocacy, communications – anything! Then seek out philanthropy advisors who meet your criteria and schedule a conversation to get to know each other.

Be honest that at this stage you are simply seeking to build a relationship so that if the need arises in the future you will know who to turn to. Stay in touch with them. Imagine how much better positioned you will be a year from now to retain talented philanthropy consultants who represent diversity in terms of race, gender identity, socioeconomic background, upbringing, religion, education, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, neurodiversity, and life experience.

5. Utilize philanthropy consultant directories

Here are two to get you started:

National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers (NNCG). NNCG is a valuable resource for finding qualified consultants. NNCG’s mission is to increase the quality, effectiveness, and capacity of grantmakers by mobilizing and strengthening the work of knowledgeable, ethical, and experienced consultants. They host a free online directory that offers a list of vetted consultants in multiple disciplines. This is a great way to find consultants who are well-suited for your needs project and have a track record of success. Additionally, NNCG strives to support a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive field of philanthropy consulting and offers the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Toolkit for Consultants to Grantmakers and resources on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. I was one of NNCG’s co-founders and served as Steering Committee Chair for many years and highly recommend the organization.

Exponent Philanthropy’s Directory of Foundation and Philanthropy Advisors
Exponent Philanthropy is a philanthropy-serving organization for lean funders and small-staffed foundations. Not surprisingly, this free directory lists highly respected and vetted professionals who regularly work with these types of funders. This includes accountants, asset managers, foundation management, HR outsourcing, lawyers, philanthropic advisors, and software providers. I’ve been a professional partner to and a fan of Exponent Philanthropy for many years and I also highly recommend it.

6. Be open and honest with prospective philanthropy advisors

When working with prospective consultants, it is important to be open and honest with them about what you are doing, what you are looking for, and the stage you are in. If you want some free advice, tell them that, limit their time, and buy them breakfast or lunch.

I recently received an email from a funder that read “I am looking for an initial conversation with a consultant regarding the development of a grant program – from hiring a grant manager to awarding grants. We are a statewide organization with small grant award experience. This would be a broad, overview type of conversation as I simply don’t know what I don’t know.” I love this! She is clear she is looking to learn through several conversations. If I choose to reach out to her I’m clear that I cannot expect this to turn into a paying engagement. It might, but then again it might not.

If you need more of their time, pay them for a half or full day to come in and brainstorm and vet ideas, with no expectations of any further work. By being clear about your needs and expectations, you can ensure that you are working with the right consultant for your project.

Whether you are just getting started on your philanthropic journey or a seasoned professional seeking to make a change, hiring a philanthropy advisor might really benefit you. If you are looking for a qualified philanthropy advisor to help with your most pressing goals, challenges, and questions, schedule a call with me. I’d love to chat with you to see if I can help you!

2022 was quite a year for us all. For me personally, it was filled with deep challenges but also tremendous achievements and success.

In the first four months of last year, both my mom and stepmom died unexpectedly, a family home was destroyed by water damage, and I was thrust into homeschooling one of my kids (the kind of homeschooling where you are completely unprepared and unqualified and are making it up as you go!), and that same child experienced debilitating anxiety and social isolation. On top of that, I herniated one of my disks and for months I couldn’t sit without agonizing pain! And just last week I seriously injured both of my knees skiing (getting off the chair lift of a bunny hill. Yes, a bunny hill!).  Honestly, there was a lot about 2022 that was tough.

At the same time, I experienced significant joy and success. I got to spend my professional life doing what I love most – advising and coaching many amazing foundation CEOs and philanthropists. I experienced the satisfaction of knowing the advice I gave my clients in one-hour phone conversations saved them from wasting tremendous time and resources, dramatically reduced their stress, and gave them permission to change their lives and their foundations. My husband and I bought a new house and I’m having fun decorating and envisioning the parties I will throw this summer! Most importantly, my kid’s anxiety has dramatically diminished and they are thriving at a new (public) school whose leadership genuinely cares and supports all their students.

This year I am especially thrilled to have received several awards for my philanthropy advising. I’m honored to be recognized by my peers for what I do, and I’m excited to share them with you:

• Best Philanthropy Advisor of the Year 2022- USA, Global 100
• Philanthropy Advice Award, Annual Family Wealth Report Awards 2022
• Best Philanthropy Advisor of the Year – USA, Lawyer International – Legal 100 – 2022
• Most Influential Philanthropy Advisor – 2022 Global Excellence Awards
• Best Philanthropy Advisor of the Year – USA, M&A Today – Global Awards – 2022
• Best Philanthropists Endeavour Advisor – USA, LuxLife Magazine – 2022 Global Excellence Awards
• Top 10 Inspiring Leaders of 2022, IE Magazine 

My work advising funders and donors to increase the clarity, impact, and joy of their philanthropic giving is incredibly rewarding and energizing. I truly appreciate each of you who read this newsletter, reply with comments, share them with colleagues, and tell me how they help you lead and give.

I wish you tremendous success and joy this year. And if you think there is any way I can help you in 2023, please let me know. Simply use this link to schedule a call with me.

Here’s a little background on why I wanted to write this:  I recently shared this on TikTok and reposted the video on LinkedIn, and it received close to 12,000 views and many comments from other consultants sharing similar experiences. In my experience advising hundreds of foundations, corporate giving programs, and ultra-high-net-worth philanthropists over the past 23 years and talking with dozens of consultants helping to launch and lead the Philanthropy Consultants Network and the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, RFPs can be the worst way to find and engage talented philanthropy advisors.

The RFP process can easily waste your time, waste money, and impede your ability to find top talent. But most funders don’t realize this. They genuinely want to find fabulous and diverse advisors, consultants, evaluators, and executive coaches – but they don’t recognize how the RFP process gets in their way.  (Psst – this is why I wrote a whole book on this topic, called Delusional Altruism!).

I personally find RFPs to be, on the whole, not a good use of time and an impediment to my ability to improve my clients’ conditions. Here are the last three myths to close out my series on RFP myths:

Myth 4: An RFP is the fairest way to reach emerging and diverse philanthropy advisors.

  Fact: RFPs are stacked against the consultants and advisors you don’t already know. 
Many funders believe that by casting a wide net they will find BIPOC advisors, emerging LGBTQ+ consultants, evaluators with lived experience, and advisory firms led by women and people with disabilities. Consultants who aren’t the “usual suspects.” This is all very well-intentioned. And it IS extremely important for philanthropy leaders to actively seek and engage consultants (and staff, trustees, and grantees) who bring diverse experiences and expertise, especially those whose lived experience reflects the issues they are trying to address and the communities they seek to help. 

But an RFP is often not the best way to do this. In fact, for many consultants, it feels like a setup. 

The reality is funders are most likely to retain those with whom they are very familiar or have an existing relationship, who come via a referral from a trusted colleague, or whose brand recognition looms large. It’s common for funders to request proposals from dozens of philanthropy advisors only to select a firm they planned to hire anyway, already knew, or have previously worked with. In doing so, they’ve wasted a tremendous amount of time with a tremendous number of advisors.

On top of that, more prominent philanthropy advisory and consulting firms have far greater bandwidth than smaller boutique firms and independent consultants to respond to RFPs. They might have ample staff capacity (e.g., 60+ staff) to easily deploy a junior team to write proposals. Some receive large general operating support grants from foundations and many charge extraordinarily high fees. As a result, they have ample extra funds to respond to many RFPs with little financial consequence if their proposal is not selected. Many larger, more well-known firms have communications staff to support proposal development with beautiful marketing materials and PowerPoint decks. 

By contrast, an independent consultant of color has herself. An emerging philanthropy advisory firm might have a handful of staff and a part-time virtual assistant to support them. They are wearing all the hats and juggling all the balls.

If they spend countless hours responding to many RFPs, competing against dozens of other consultants, and aren’t selected, it hits their bottom line much harder. If they spend eight, 16, or 40 hours preparing a proposal, that could be 20%, 40%, or 100% of the entire firm’s work week.

And if they don’t already have a relationship with that funder, or don’t stand out through national marketing, or they haven’t developed and packaged their consulting services with funding from a foundation grant, it’s hard to compete in an RFP process. The result?  A funder might honestly believe that issuing an RFP demonstrates that they are trying to be inclusive of consultants who have smaller firms, or who represent diversity in terms of gender identity, socioeconomic background, upbringing, religion, education, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, neurodiversity, and life experience. However, with an RFP they are often wasting those (or any) consultants’ time and setting them up for failure. 

Myth 5: The RFP makes the process fair

Fact: RFP processes often undermine applicants
Consider this: If the foundation allows advisors and consultants to ask questions before submitting proposals, those questions and answers are often shared with all applicants. That means if the consultant has invested their own time and resources in training, coaching, and professional development to improve their ability to help their clients gain insight into their underlying needs – simply by asking the right questions – all that investment, and the consultant’s unique value, is freely disseminated by the funder to the consultant’s competition. Similarly, if the philanthropy advisor’s lived experience allows them to have more meaningful insight into the situation and ask deeper questions that no one else has ever asked the funder, that information is often freely shared with the advisor’s competition.

The funder often has no idea how problematic this is because few have been entrepreneurs seeking to improve and grow their businesses. Often, they are so focused on what they think is “fair” and “transparent” they don’t realize they are often giving away proprietary information and differentiating the value and expertise of small business owners. To make matters worse, these are often the diverse consultants they proclaim to want to help through their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Sometimes, the funder overtly undercuts the consultant applicants. I once had a client at a family foundation solicit philanthropy advisors using an RFP, and he specifically told me that he planned to identify the best ideas from all the proposals and then have the chosen advisor (likely the cheapest) implement them. Like most philanthropy advisors, I find this offensive. It takes a tremendous amount of unpaid time and uncompensated resources for a consultant or advisor to put together a well-considered scope of work, budget, and proposal. And every proposal is infused with the consultant’s proprietary intellect, creativity, and experience. It is not the job of philanthropy advisors — often sole proprietors without consistent income — to subsidize philanthropic foundations that have millions or billions in assets. If a grantmaker is not aware of the best approaches to tackling a project, then he should either pay for that information or solicit it in honest, risk-free ways.

 Myth 6: RFPs help funders build relationships with advisors

Fact: RFPs stymie relationship building
Often there is no opportunity for the philanthropy consultant to talk with funders, much less build a relationship, during the RFP process. As I described in Part 1 of this blog series, the expectations and scope of work for the consultant have typically been so tightly designed and described by the funder in the RFP, many funders aren’t interested in talking about it further. They just want the consultant to follow their detailed instructions and submit a proposal by the deadline. Or the funder has spent way too long developing the RFP, has invited too many philanthropy advisors to apply, and now they are swimming in proposals, behind schedule, and running out of time to talk with any of them. Often foundation leaders feel if one consultant asks to talk with them, they must offer conversations with all applicants (again, thinking this means they are being “transparent” and “fair”).

As a philanthropy advisor, it is ethically important for me to talk with all the people involved in deciding on which advisor to hire. For starters, I need to make sure I understand their objectives directly from them. I need to be able to listen carefully for indications of unspoken concerns and fears, or previously unsurfaced opportunities so that I can ask critical follow-up questions.  This allows me to ensure my proposal meets their full objectives and previously unseen needs. Further, they need to know if I’m the right fit for them, and I need to know if they are the right fit for me. We can’t do that through a piece of paper. Like everything in philanthropy, consulting and advising are based upon trusting relationships.

Unfortunately, too often funders forbid any of this communication! By design, the RFP process often does not allow for a one-on-one conversation with decision-makers. A board committee might be making the decision on which strategic planning coach to work with, but the strategic planning coach is forbidden from talking with them before submitting a proposal. There is no relationship, much less a trusting one!

Look, I’m not saying that RFPs never result in finding and retaining talented philanthropy advisors and consultants. I am sure many of you have examples of terrific, diverse consultants you never would have found without their RFP process. That’s fabulous! I’m truly glad the RFP process worked in your favor.

However, I suggest that instead of turning to an RFP as the default, consider how it might be getting in your way. You might be better served by checking your assumptions about the value of this process, considering the actual human and financial resources involved in executing it, and brainstorming other ways of engaging consultants that involve honesty, trust, and genuine relationship building.

If you’ve read this far you are probably wondering, “OK, Kris if RFPs aren’t great, what are those better approaches to finding and retaining top-notch philanthropy advisors and consultants?” Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!  My next newsletter will share my best tips and advice for finding and engaging fabulous philanthropy advisors to support you, your team, and the amazing work you are doing. (Hint: It’s all about relationships!).

Now that you know what to avoid in finding your next consultant, I want to invite you to my next Aerodynamic Giving Workshop. This free event is specifically for CEOs of grantmaking foundations, corporate giving programs, and philanthropic family offices who want to minimize strategic friction and find their fastest path to impact. If you’re interested, be sure to RSVP today: https://putnam-consulting.com/aerodynamic-giving/

And if you missed the first part of this blog series, you can catch up here: Myths Vs. Facts: Consultant RFPs — Part 1

Wrong.

In my experience advising hundreds of foundations, corporate giving programs, and ultra-high-net-worth philanthropists over the past 23 years and talking with dozens of consultants helping to launch and lead the Philanthropy Consultants Network and the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, RFPs can be the worst way to find and engage talented philanthropy advisors.

In fact, the RFP process can easily waste your time, waste money, and impede your ability to find top talent. What’s worse, it can inadvertently undermine the consultants you invite to apply!

But most funders don’t realize this. They genuinely want to find fabulous and diverse advisors, consultants, evaluators, and executive coaches – but they don’t recognize how the RFP process gets in their way.  (Psst – this is why I wrote a whole book on this topic, called Delusional Altruism!).

I personally find RFPs to be, on the whole, not a good use of time and an impediment to my ability to improve my clients’ conditions. I recently shared this on TikTok and reposted the video on LinkedIn, and it received close to 12,000 views and many comments from other consultants sharing similar experiences. This prompted me to start a two-part blog series to debunk six common myths about using RFPs to find consultants and advisors. I hope you find it valuable! Here are the first three:

Myth 1: RFPs help you find the best philanthropy advisors and consultants

Fact: The best advisors and consultants often ignore RFPs

Talented philanthropy advisors and consultants often don’t respond to RFPs because their services are in high demand. Most of their business typically comes from referrals, reputation, and repeat business. They view responding to RFPs, where you might have a one-in-10 or one-in-40 chance of being selected, as a waste of their time. Time that could be spent on more valuable activities such as helping funders increase their impact through executive advice, consulting, and content creation. Other consultants, both seasoned and emerging, choose to ignore RFPs because they have identified other marketing and business development strategies that have proven more effective and less time-consuming, such as networking, speaking, and relationship building. This all means if a foundation issues an RFP they are immediately eliminating some of the most successful and talented advisors from consideration.

Consider this example: A consultant colleague once received an RFP from two partnering foundations who sought a nationally recognized philanthropy consultant with experience developing and managing early childhood initiatives. The RFP was full of unnecessary expectations and legalese, taking 19 pages to explain how to submit a 10-page proposal and outlining all the activities the consultant should undertake and in what order. They’d had months to write the RFP but allowed the consultant only weeks to apply. They refused to allow the consultant to talk to the decision-makers so she could fully understand their objectives, and she was required to be available on a specific day to fly in for an interview in the event she was selected as a finalist. Her award-winning, woman- and BIPOC-owned and led consultancy was widely known for its expertise in early childhood. She was uniquely qualified to deliver stellar results for these funders. But because of their rigid conformity to their tightly defined RFP process, she didn’t apply—and they lost out on a quality consultant. I am sure there were other top philanthropy consultants who also took a polite pass.

On top of that, most RFP processes prevent consultants from doing their best work. For example, funders often begin the RFP processes by determining every detail of the consultant’s scope of work, including all activities, hours anticipated for each activity, a detailed timeline, and list of deliverables. This is typically done by the CEO and select board members, even if they have never done the activities they are asking the consultant to do (e.g., lead an organization through strategic planning, design and conduct an evaluation, or help a foundation operationalize diversity, equity and inclusion). By doing so they effectively eliminate the consultant’s vast experience and expertise from the initial assessment, visioning, and design of the consulting engagement. The scope of work has now been framed, tightly defined, and approved by the board. It’s now difficult to alter it significantly, even if the philanthropy advisor recommends a vastly different approach that would add greater value, allow the funder to achieve results faster, or cost less. The advisor is an expert. But instead of harnessing that expertise most funders thwart it.

Myth 2: RFPs are the most efficient way to find consultants 

Fact: RFPs can easily waste funders’ time and money.

On top of hamstringing funders’ likelihood of finding the best consultant and preventing the consultant from doing their best work, the RFP process can also drain the philanthropist’s time, energy, and money.  This is because funders spend way too much time designing what they think is the perfect scope of work, writing and editing the RFP, obtaining board approval of the RFP, widely disseminating it via networks and social media, reviewing scores of proposals, interviewing finalists, and making selections.

I was once asked by a foundation to submit a proposal to conduct an evaluation. I asked how many other consultants the evaluation director was requesting bids from. “Fifty,” he said. “Fifty?” I replied, stunned. “Five-zero?” “Yes,” he proudly answered. “I prescreened fifty evaluators, and I sent them all the RFP.” This was to conduct a $40,000 evaluation.

I politely declined, since my then-three-year-old could do the math and realize my chances of success were low. Months later I checked in with the foundation’s evaluation director. He was exhausted and overwhelmed. It turned out he had indeed received a massive number of proposals he had to sort through and vet. Then he’d had to determine finalists and interview them, all before he could make a decision and hire someone.

This process took him about six months from start to finish. The evaluation itself could have been conducted in that time frame. Consider the time and expense of all that staff time: annual six-figure salary of a well-paid evaluation director (plus benefits) plus annual salary of a decently paid program associate (plus benefits), divided by 2,080 working hours per year (to determine hourly rate). Now multiply that hourly rate times the hours spent identifying and prequalifying 50 evaluators, preparing and disseminating the RFP, responding to dozens of inquiries, reading 40 proposals, vetting and prioritizing them, conducting due diligence, interviewing finalists, declining 39 of them, and finally hiring one. They probably spent half of the $40,000 project fee just on hiring the evaluator. Meanwhile other important projects got sidelined.

An extreme example? You’d be surprised how common this is. But you can easily see how the process itself can quickly get out of control.

Myth 3: Using an RFP to retain a philanthropy advisor demonstrates transparency

Fact: There is rarely anything transparent about consultant RFP processes.

Foundation leaders and corporate donors face pressure to be transparent. And they should be. After all, they are stewards of the public trust. They often view sending an RFP to scores of philanthropy advisors and consultants as one way to demonstrate transparency because they aren’t picking a specific advisor “behind closed doors.”

But there is very little that’s transparent in the RFP process. Funders don’t publicize which advisors they chose to invite or what criteria they used to identify them. Nor do they publicize how they made their final determination, which is always “behind closed doors” anyway. The process is least transparent to the philanthropy consultants and advisors themselves, who typically have little opportunity to meet with the ultimate decision-makers and therefore have no way of fully understanding the funder’s needs or objectives. They are rarely told whom or how many advisors they are competing against. While most RFPs outline a specific scope of services and timeline, the philanthropy advisor has no idea how or why this was determined, or if it even makes sense. On top of that, funders rarely share their budget or even budget range, even when asked directly by the advisor. The advisor is expected to guess (and then is often told their proposal was declined because the fee was outside the budget!).

Now that we have debunked those three myths about RFPs, you’ll want to make sure to subscribe to my newsletter to see me bust more myths in part two. You can subscribe right now to receive practical tips delivered straight to your inbox. Click here to sign up: https://putnam-consulting.com/category/practical-tips-for-philanthropists/

A year later I changed. I made the book one of my top three priorities. Then I made a list of the most important things I needed to do to publish it. I blocked out time in my calendar to work on the book every day, even if all I did was something minimal. I informed my team that this book was a priority and they all had roles to play in making it happen. This meant “publish a book” became a top agenda item on all calls with my marketing consultant. That way we wouldn’t get sidetracked by other activities. I told my accountant, and we discussed the book’s revenue and tax implications. I told my husband because somehow telling him things out loud makes them happen.

The result? I had a signed contract with one of the world’s most prominent business book publishers five weeks later.

I wouldn’t have accomplished this if I hadn’t followed the seven tips I outline below. If you are struggling to successfully and easily manage your philanthropy strategy, read on!

Tip 1: Identify Your Top Priorities

Having a new strategic plan isn’t enough. You must now identify your top priorities for achieving them. You can’t focus on 15 or 30 things at once! Pick the top two or three priorities – the most important things that must happen next. If you don’t have clarity about your top organization-wide implementation priorities, you won’t effectively manage your philanthropy strategy.

Don’t assume that because your entire team was involved in strategic planning, they will know what’s most important to do next. We all view strategy through our own lens and how it impacts our work.

Next, tell everyone what your top priorities are, be it program officers, family members, your wealth advisor, or the receptionist. Everyone has a role to play.

Tip 2: Assign Accountabilities

Now that everyone knows your top implementation priorities, you to hold people accountable for achieving them. To do this, you must assign “priority champions.” For each priority, pick a person who will be accountable for achieving it. This person does not need to do everything, but they need to make sure a specific priority is achieved, and they need to be held accountable.

Tip 3: Ask Priority Champions to Create a Punch List

Each priority champion should create a list of the top 5–10 most important things that need to happen next for their priority. For each item, add a deadline. Keep it simple. You don’t need a full-blown work plan or Gantt chart! In fact, at this stage, such a complex plan would be unrealistic and slow things down. To easily and effectively manage your philanthropy strategy you want a list of the most important activities and a deadline for each.

Tip 4: Pick a Date (soon) to Review the Progress       

Pick a date and time (in the next two to three weeks) when your team and priority champions will come back to share their lists and review their progress in implementing them. This also provides an opportunity for you to troubleshoot any challenges, offer suggestions, and enlist the support of other team members whose help or expertise is needed to achieve the priority. It is critical that you pick this date BEFORE you leave the planning meeting when your top priorities and priority champions are identified. This will ensure you maintain momentum and don’t get taken off course by the many distractions that will present themselves!

Tip 5: Add and Subtract Items On Your Calendar

What gets scheduled gets done. Be sure to block out time on your calendar to implement your top priorities and achieve your goals. Even if you’re not sure how you will be spending the time, block it out anyway. That way you can be sure to have time to get things done.

But, I get it. You already have a lot on your plate. This might feel like adding more work. The reality is, there are probably a dozen or more tasks you shouldn’t be doing or that could be delegated. If you are focused on what’s most important, you should not be focused on the other 10 things that you previously thought were needed. To put it bluntly, there’s stuff you need to STOP doing so you have time to accomplish the things that are most critical to achieving your goals. This also becomes mentally freeing! Decide what you can subtract, delegate, or eliminate. By ruthlessly managing your time and calendar you will effectively manage your philanthropy strategy.

Tip 6: Plan to Pivot

One of the biggest mistakes I see philanthropists make is setting a course, putting their foot on the gas, and never taking their eyes off the road. This might seem like a logical approach to managing your philanthropy strategy, but it’s not. Because stuff happens, and some of that stuff is worth taking your foot off the gas. Sometimes, you’ve got to pull to the side of the road. And it’s best if you do that even before you know you need to. Practically speaking, you’ll need to identify regular intervals (e.g., quarterly or every two months) when you’ll check in on your plan and ask yourself some questions:

• What progress have we made in implementing our philanthropy strategy?
• What has changed internally in our organization or externally in the community or world that might warrant us to modify our strategy or leverage a new opportunity?
• Do we need to add anything or subtract anything?
• Does any part of our strategy need to drastically change?

Then, update your plan, identify top priorities, assign accountabilities, make sure everyone involved understands the changes, and keep going.

Tip 7: Maintain Momentum and Celebrate Success

The quicker you begin implementing and managing your philanthropy strategy, the more momentum you will gain. The more momentum you gain, the faster everyone gets on board and the quicker you achieve results. Think of it as a series of strategic sprints rather than a marathon. You want to start meeting milestones and celebrating accomplishments quickly.

These can be significant accomplishments (we launched our first grantmaking initiative!), wonky wins (we recoded our grants management system!), and tiny victories (we identified potential grantees!). Everyone will appreciate being appreciated.

The strategy most often fails in implementation, not formulation. But if you follow these seven tips you will stay focused and accountable, accelerate your speed of implementation, and successfully manage your philanthropy strategy.

Now that you know how to properly manage your philanthropic strategy, I want to invite you to my second Aerodynamic Giving Workshop. This workshop is specifically for CEOs of grantmaking foundations, corporate giving programs, and philanthropic family offices who want to minimize strategic friction and find their fastest path to impact. If you’re interested, be sure to RSVP today: https://putnam-consulting.com/aerodynamic-giving/

Unfortunately, this rarely happens in philanthropy. Many philanthropic strategic plans lay in limbo, never getting off the ground. As a result, funders waste a lot of time and money, get distracted, and delay their impact.

In my experience advising and facilitating dozens of strategic planning processes with philanthropists, the number one reason is the team never identified their top philanthropic priorities to implement their strategy. Let me show you how to do that!

Narrowing Down Your Philanthropic Priorities

You might think since your entire team was involved in strategic planning, they will know what’s most important to do next, right? Wrong. Don’t assume everyone knows the top organization-wide priorities. Here’s a little trick to find out if your team is on the same page: Ask them. After I began advising the CEO of a private foundation on strategy implementation, one of the first things I did was interview her staff. I simply asked, “What are the top three priorities for implementing the new strategy?” Guess what? I heard 23 different answers! Not 3, not 5—23!

This is quite common. When you create your strategic plan, it feels like there are a zillion things to do. Further, we all view strategy through our own lens and how it impacts our work. Naturally, each staff person had their own spin on what seemed “most” important. But you can’t focus on a zillion things at once. You can’t even focus on 23 things at once. You need to pick your top three philanthropic priorities. The most important things that need to happen next.

If your team isn’t all on the same page, how do you determine those top priorities? It depends in part on how you make decisions typically. Does the executive director decide? Do you strive for consensus? It’s probably a little bit of both. There might be a natural leader—the donor or CEO— in your philanthropy whose opinion weighs more heavily.

At the same time, if you want everyone to be involved in implementing your top priorities, it’s a good idea to involve them in determining them. Buy-in is helpful. At that private foundation, we brought the team together for the afternoon. We reviewed the list of 23 priorities and agreed it was far too many. The CEO shared what she felt was most important, and after a facilitated discussion, we landed on three philanthropic priorities. These weren’t the only things that needed to happen. They were the most important things that needed to happen next to achieve their strategic goals.

Ask Yourself 3 Key Questions

Your philanthropic priorities are the most important things you should focus on next to move your philanthropy from its current state to its desired future state, as quickly as possible. When I facilitate strategic planning with foundations, I help them determine this by asking three questions:

1. What is the 20 percent of effort that will deliver 80 percent of your results? For example, if you are launching a new grantmaking initiative, the 20 percent of effort that will deliver the most results might be hiring someone to manage the initiative. “Hiring the initiative manager” then becomes one of your top three philanthropic priorities.
2. What needs to be true, and by when, to achieve your philanthropic strategy? This question helps you reverse engineer the implementation of your strategy. You start with the end in mind. If you were to achieve your strategy, what must happen and by when? That leads you back to the things you must begin doing immediately.
3. If you could only accomplish ONE thing to achieve your strategy this year, what would it be? For this question pretend your hands are tied and you are only allowed to do one thing this year but it’s the thing that will help you make the most progress toward implementing your strategic plan. That one thing should become a top philanthropic priority!

Initiate Action On The Strategy

Once you’ve identified your top priorities, you need immediately initiate action. Take these four steps to make rapid progress and maintain your momentum:

1. Assign priority champions. For each priority, pick a person who will be responsible for it. This person does not need to do everything, but they need to make sure a specific priority is achieved, and they need to be held accountable. This should happen before you leave the strategic planning retreat!
2. Give each priority its own punch list. Ask priority champions to create a list of the top 5-10 most important things that need to happen next for their priority. For each item add a deadline. Keep it simple and ask them to create this list within two weeks of your strategy being developed.
3. Tell everyone. Every single person at every level of your organization, be it program officers, finance directors, family members, or the receptionist, need to know the top implementation priorities and who is accountable for each of them. Do this immediately. Your philanthropic priorities must be top of mind.
4. Review progress with your entire team. Ask priority champions to regularly share progress with everyone. Staff meetings are a great place to do this. Top implementation priorities should be the first agenda item at every meeting. Priority champions bring their lists and update everyone on progress. That holds them accountable and lets your team troubleshoot and solve problems together.

Speed is your friend in implementation. The quicker you can begin implementing your strategic plan, the more momentum you will gain. The more momentum you gain, the faster everyone gets on board and the quicker you achieve results. By narrowing down your philanthropic priorities, asking key questions, and initiating immediate action you will stay focused, hold yourself accountable, and accelerate your impact velocity.

Now that you have your philanthropic priorities set, I want to invite you to my Aerodynamic Giving Workshop. This workshop is specifically for CEOs of grantmaking foundations, corporate giving programs, and philanthropic family offices who want to minimize strategic friction and find their fastest path to impact. RSVP today: https://putnam-consulting.com/aerodynamic-giving/

Yet too often, philanthropists don’t have a strategy to reach their goals. Or they have a strategic plan, but it’s outdated. Their strategy doesn’t inform day-to-day decisions and they lack a roadmap for change.

If that describes you, never fear! Strategy can be developed in less time than you might think. Armed with your strategy, you’ll be ready to change the world! Read on for five steps to create your philanthropic strategy so you can stop wasting time and money, and start increasing the clarity, impact, and joy of your giving.

Step 1: Change your mindset.

I get it. The past few years have been particularly bizarre and turbulent. For many funders it can feel impossible to set your strategy when the future feels so uncertain and only time will tell how it’ll all shake out. But the “only time will tell” part is not unique to this moment in history. 

The future is no more uncertain today than it was a decade ago or a century ago. 

So, here’s the mindset shift I challenge you to make: Rather than allowing the idea of an “unknown future” to paralyze you, let it free you. You can’t possibly plan for every contingency, so stop trying to. Instead, change your strategy mindset. Decide to be flexible and agile, recognizing your philanthropic strategy will almost certainly have to change along the way. 

Step 2: Recalibrate your timeline.

If the start of this decade has taught us anything, it’s the futility of spending a year to create a five-year strategic plan. By the time you formulate your strategy the world will have changed! And while setting long-range goals is great, the reality is we can only plan for the next 12 months. 

Instead, recalibrate your timeline.

It’s far better to develop your philanthropic strategy quickly, begin implementing it immediately, and change it rapidly as conditions change. By quickly I mean creating your strategy in a little as seven hours or seven weeks! That way you and your team have agreement on what you want to accomplish, a plan to get there, and the confidence you can adjust along the way. 

Step 3: Don’t waste time on data collection.

Gasp! I know, I know: Suggesting data collection is a waste of time goes against everything we’ve ever been taught about informed decision-making. So please notice I did not call data collection a waste of time; I’m only recommending you don’t waste time on it.

What typically happens is this: Philanthropy leaders begin strategic planning with extensive—and expensive—one-off data-gathering exercises (learning tours, listening sessions, and environmental scans). These efforts take a great deal of everyone’s time and cost a lot of money. And then they stop. And then several years later, they do it all again. 

The truth is, digging into data is critical—but only to a point. Beyond that point, it’s an obstacle induced by a fear of failure. And by the way, shouldn’t you be learning from community members and grantees all the time? If you are continuously learning about needs and opportunities, this data will be at your fingertips when it’s time to inform your strategy.

Base your decisions on the best information you have right now, and have confidence you can keep improving along the way. You do not have to have it all figured out to get started.

Step 4: Ask “What?” questions

Developing your philanthropic strategy means identifying your desired future. Gather your team together and ask “what” questions, such as:

• What do we want to accomplish in the next 12 months?
• What kind of philanthropic family, foundation, or corporate giving program do we want to be a year from now?
• What impact do we want to be having in our community?

That is your desired future state. Now, take an honest look at where you are today (your current state) and ask: “What is the easiest and fastest way we can move from our current state to our desired future state?”

Congratulations! You’ve now determined what you want to accomplish and a plan for getting there. That is your strategy.

Step 5: Identify top implementation priorities 

Now that you’ve set your strategy, it might feel like you have 65 tasks on your to-do list. But you can’t focus on 65 things at once! You must now identify your top three priorities for achieving it. Your top priorities are the most important things that must happen next, to implement your philanthropic strategy. If you don’t have clarity about your top implementation priorities, you will get pulled in too many directions and you won’t make progress.

When I facilitate strategic planning with foundation leaders and philanthropic families, here are three questions I ask to help them determine their top priorities:

• If you could only accomplish ONE thing to achieve your strategy this year, what would it be?
• What is the 20% of effort that will drive 80% of your results?
• What needs to be true, and by when, to achieve your philanthropic strategy?

To be clear, these “top priorities” are for your entire enterprise—whether you’re an organization or a married couple. These aren’t individual-level or even team-level priorities. They’re everything to everyone. 

For example, if you’ve decided to sunset and spend down your foundation, your top priorities might be to conduct financial forecasting, narrow your grantmaking to focus core funding areas, and create a communications plan. Notice that these priorities aren’t the only things that need to happen. They are the most important things you need to focus on next.

Creating your philanthropic strategy is easier than you think.  Simply shift your mindset, recalibrate your timeline, avoid wasting time on excessive data collection, ask the right questions, and identify your top priorities for implementing it.

Wondering whether it’s time for you to create or refresh your strategy? Here’s a quick tip: Ask everyone on your team (staff, board, family) what your organization’s top 3 priorities are for implementing your strategy. If they aren’t in agreement on what’s most important, or they can’t locate your strategic plan, or they ask, “What strategy?” it’s time to create or reinvigorate your strategy! 

If you need help figuring out how to successfully create a philanthropic strategy that will guide your organization to success, or you aren’t sure where to begin  schedule a call with me! 

We often think of a good leader as someone who goes first. A person who wouldn’t ask her team to do anything she wouldn’t do. But what happens when the one out in front doesn’t have the crucial information to make good decisions? What if that information instead resides with the people around her?

How does this relate to philanthropy? Maybe you can guess. Countless funders and their boards have been working on the same issues for decades. They believe they are well-positioned to make critical decisions about where to invest in the problems they hope to solve. Funders often think they know best or better than the people whom they purport to serve. Yet, these same funders are often frustrated by the poor results of their philanthropic investments. Believe me, the communities who could benefit from these investments are just as frustrated.

Our society tends to equate wealth accumulation with superior intellect—-or at least with superior know-how. And yet, few people have more knowledge than those who experience the struggles first-hand. Instead of confusing poverty or other forms of inequity with an inability to innovate or a lack of motivation to improve, funders should seek the answers they desire within the communities they wish to serve. In other words, lead from behind.

In addition to great examples like FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund, whose participatory approach to grantmaking lets the applicants vote on who to award grants to in their region (and no, they can’t vote for themselves), there are many other ways to become the kind of leader that philanthropy needs. Here are four ways to shift the balance of power and improve your funding results:

1. Let the community guide your learning. There are many ways to engage diverse perspectives, ranging from low-touch learning to high decision-making involvement. Low-touch approaches might include creating an advisory committee of community members; soliciting input via focus groups, surveys, and listening sessions; and participating in community convenings. For example, the Stuart Foundation in San Francisco made a point of gathering the perspectives of high school-aged foster care youth and college students who had been in foster care before deciding whether to continue a program for youth transitioning out of the foster care system.

2. Look for homegrown solutions. As funders working to solve problems, nothing excites us more than a “big bet” that has shown a significant impact. Many of us practically drool over an evidence-based practice that we think will work wonders in our own communities. But we should recognize that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, and even interventions that have a strong base of evidence for effectiveness in one community may completely miss the mark in another. Culture, trusting relationships, and the ability to recognize and build on a community’s unique assets are all critical components of success. And no one understands a community’s culture, relationships, and assets like those who live there. Let those who live the problems inform —- or, even better, determine —- the solutions.

3. Invest beyond the usual suspects. Once you‘ve given others the power to inform your understanding and the solutions, it’s time to make investments. While your long-term grantees may indeed play a valuable role, they may not be the best to implement a strategy or, at least, not best to take the lead. An organization deeply embedded in and trusted by the community — one plugged in to the culture, relationships, and assets mentioned in the point above — would likely be better- positioned to be out front. Due to systemic funding inequities, this organization may be under-resourced relative to your usual grantees. Your philanthropic investments may need to include funds for capacity building, professional development, or general operating support to help the organization increase and maximize its effectiveness. Your timeline for change may also need to be longer. But in the end, you‘ll emerge with a new ally and a more robust community resource that can continue to exert positive influence for years to come.

4. Share control of decision-making. There’s a heck of a lot of power in being a philanthropist. You give, and others receive. While that power dynamic might not go away anytime soon, there are things you can do to mitigate it. Specifically, sharing or giving up control of decision-making. For family foundations, this could mean inviting non-family members to serve on the foundation board. Some philanthropists have taken this a few steps further: They’ve decided to hand over control of grantmaking decisions to community members.

The Springs Close Foundation, headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina, did just that. The family foundation recognized that as times changed, they needed to change, too. Family members were moving to communities across the country, their hometown was growing and changing, and needs were emerging that they didn’t fully understand.

To remain relevant in this dynamic situation, they created community advisory committees for each county that the Foundation served. These committees advised the family on community issues and grant allocations. At first, the foundation board of directors maintained final decision-making authority, but the family quickly realized that this was unnecessary. The community advisory committees were so successful and insightful that the Foundation transitioned them to community boards with grantmaking budgets and full decision-making authority while the family members retained a small portion of the Foundation’s grantmaking budget for their discretionary grants.

“You can’t micromanage change,” explains Dr. Rahsaan Harris, CEO of Citizens Committee for New York City, “If you want to be transformational, you have to relinquish some control. You and your grantees need to be able to take risks. You need the freedom to try and fail. Philanthropists need to be partners in change, not owners and overseers.”

These four points apply to any funder, from the smallest individual donor to the largest global foundation. The scope and size of your work may vary, but one key lesson should always hold: If you want to support change, learn from the people most impacted and give up some control. Ask them what they need to make change, and then give them the means to do it.

Are you looking for ways to become the kind of leader that your philanthropy needs you to be? Be sure to buy a copy of Delusional Altruism or feel free to schedule a call with me. I’d be happy to help you talk through ways you can immediately make changes that will impact the communities you serve.

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