logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | On the Job Training for Tomorrow’s Givers

Bruce S Trachtenberg
April 12, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

April 10, 2010; Wall Street Journal | If practice makes perfect, Caroline Cummings Rafferty should be ready for the day she takes over the $235 million Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, started by her grandfather from the money he made from the Speedway gasoline station chain. To help her prepare for the eventual job of deciding how to responsibly make $12 million in grants each year from her family’s foundation, 29-year-old Rafferty is overseeing a $1 million fund that gives away thousands of dollars annually.

According to the Wall Street Journal, setting up mini foundations for their children, like the one Rafferty is running, is one way the next generation is being groomed to someday head their family’s philanthropies. Other ways children are learning the ropes of their family’s philanthropy include forming special boards of directors or foundations committees that give them responsibility for specific duties, such as developing a Web site.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Ironically, overseeing giving away smaller amounts helps these philanthropists-in-training deal with another reality: the foundations they’ll one day manage are likely to be smaller than they once were. As the Journal notes, foundations in the United States lost nearly $150 billion in assets in 2008, almost the equivalent of total grants awarded over the four years preceding the financial meltdown.

Still, working with less individually can lead to creative thinking and innovative collective giving programs. The Journal describes a group effort comprising a number of 20- to 30-year-old donors, called the One Percent Foundation. Like 30-year-old Daniel Kaufman who started the online giving circle in 2007, other supporters—some 200 so far –give 1% of their annual income to the foundation. “If every American in their 20s and 30s did this, we’d have $16 billion to give away a year, which is bigger than Bill Gates,” Kaufman says. Perhaps, instead of trying to top his foundation’s grantmaking, the group should invite Gates—himself a relatively new fulltime giver—to join them.—Bruce Trachtenberg

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
Remaking the Economy: Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories
Pastor Keith Davis, Steve Dubb, Demetrius Hunter, Julian D. Miller, LeeAnn C. Morrissette and Brielle Wright
Imagining New Worlds: Using Science Fiction to Build a Solidarity Economy
izzy sazak
How to Align Assets with Mission: Small Steps That Nonprofits Can Take
Anna Smukowski
The Best Elections Money Can Buy
Steve Dubb
Building Trust: How to Put Bottom-Up Organizing Principles to Work
Ramón Cruz
Eliminating Healthcare Debt: A Liberatory Approach
Chuck Bell

Upcoming Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.