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Preparing yourself and your family can be one of the most overlooked parts of a business sale and exit strategy. But it goes beyond maximizing tax efficiency and unlocking newfound wealth—it’s a monumental transition filled with emotional considerations. This article outlines key questions and critical areas of considerations for business owners an...

For many individuals, philanthropy is one of the more gratifying parts of estate planning. Adding in a multigenerational component—one that involves the family’s needs, interests, assets, and goals—can make it even more meaningful and compelling. With the focus on the family and through open channels of communication, philanthropy can be an excelle...

As startup companies in the cloud, internet, and technology industry grow, they must balance resources between innovating products and services and building their businesses. The BPM Business Ownership Transition sat down with the San Francisco Business Times to discuss the nuts and bolts of value creation for startups. Listen in for more about the...

The fun and rewarding activities of a family foundation center around determining the causes and organizations the foundation will support. While working together to make a difference, it is important to remember the family foundation is also a business requiring the same effective governance practices as a family business. This is especially criti...

If you are a newer family foundation with one or two generations on the board, five generations may seem like a long time away. Yet in family philanthropy, quite a few foundations have been operating and thriving for 50, 75, even 100 years. What’s the secret of these family philanthropies that make it five generations, and across family branches? H...

Few, if any, roles are more significant in ensuring a foundation's success than that of the board chair. This may be why many people find assuming this position a daunting project. And yet the successful businessperson who serves as chair of a family foundation dedicated to a cause that was dear to his or her parents' hearts or the community leader...

Deb Hoover served as President and CEO of Burton D. Morgan Foundation for 15 years, and during that time she played an integral role in fulfilling the donor’s vision of advancing entrepreneurship in northeast Ohio. She has also served in leadership roles for two other private foundations. Deb will share a number of practical tips for families with ...

Philanthropy is changing and evolving more quickly than ever, with new societal challenges, new players, and new strategies. In this time of change, questions of how family foundations can optimize their effectiveness are increasingly urgent. This paper by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors provides an overview of the Theory of the Foundation, some ...

There is a passionate and growing effort among funders to focus less on change that is short-term or only at the project or program level; such funders are instead using models that reach across different sectors and approaches and dig deep into root causes, leading to more structural, systemic change. Aiming their efforts at more transformational ...

A historic agreement was reached in 2015 when member states of the United Nations came together and signed “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” which included a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs charted a way forward to a just, secure, and sustainable future for people and the planet. This...

One of the many challenges facing wealthy families in today’s fast-paced society is the need to meaningfully involve family members, including the rising generation, in the management of the family wealth enterprise. One way to engage the family is through philanthropic giving where families can derive great benefit from working together to define ...

When starting with family philanthropy, a family can choose a donor-advised fund or establish a private foundation. Each option has different requirements and management issues, including start-up costs, privacy matters, control of grants and assets, and flexibility in impact investing. Serving as a general guidance for you and your experienced adv...

While there are good resources to help family foundation boards identify common and effective practices in each area of governance-related questions, this guide by the National Center for Family Philanthropy focuses less on the outcomes and more on ensuring that all of the issues are considered for building the board your foundation deserves. Used ...

Strategy is often thought of as an art form—an unstructured, intuitive exercise propelled by inspiration and brilliance. However, just like finance, operations, or marketing, strategy is a functional discipline with tools, frameworks, processes, best practices, and metrics. This checklist is end-to-end process for developing and executing a comp...

In the quest to generate positive social change, family philanthropies face diverse and sometimes competing perspectives. They also must sort through an overwhelming amount of information to make good decisions—and often, that information is too general or limited to be useful. With this research report, clear and focused data goes a long way towar...