Guest Posts How about creating a Family Foundations Affinity Group together? Selga Apse May 3, 2024 2 mins read News & Insights Guest Posts How about creating a Family Foundations Affinity Group together? By Selga Apse (Weston Family Foundation) on behalf of the Family Foundations Affinity Group Steering Committee Family foundations are wonderful and unique and play an important role in Canada’s philanthropic and non-profit endeavours. While we share many of the same attributes, strengths and challenges as corporate and other foundations, we have a set of distinct characteristics and challenges including: Family history and family dynamics Succession planning and involving the next generation Family staff and/or/vs non-family staff Governance considerations Communications specific to family foundations A small group of PFC members met recently to discuss the potential of creating an affinity group specifically for family foundations. This group included a mix of foundations both large and small, staffed by family and non-family, at various stages of their foundation’s evolution. We had a lot to discuss! The Family Foundations Affinity Group is an opportunity for family foundation staff and Directors to meet and share information and best practices. However, we think there is a LOT more that can be accomplished including DEI and Reconciliation work specific to family foundation granting, exploration of joint granting opportunities, navigating legacy building and communicating the excellent work of family foundations. We propose quarterly 90-minute meetings and anticipate that many of us will identify similar needs and challenges and meet outside of the larger group after making new connections. We hope to take advantage of all the good work many of the member foundations are doing to build a resource library specific to family foundations. We also hope to connect in person at the PFC Conference in Ottawa in September. We understand that many of us have limited capacity, and to be useful to the PFC members, we will limit our work to what makes family foundations unique. To determine what the first few meetings of this group might look like, we invite you to fill out this form, indicating what areas are of most interest to you. Please fill out the form by Tuesday, May 21, 2024. We hope you will join us in working together to make family foundations in Canada as effective and impactful as can be. Many thanks! Beth, Camylle, Jennifer, Laura, Selga Family Foundations Affinity Group Steering Committee Share This Article Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
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