Cohesive family giving across geography and generations is patient work. Trustees’ willingness to listen to one another and to invest time in grantee relationships translates into greater focus and impact.

Identify Shared Grantmaking Interests

More than a decade ago, the Celia Lipton Farris and Victor W. Farris Foundation engaged GMA Foundations’ consultants to lead the trustees in refining its philanthropic focus. Through both inward reflection and external conversations, the family board identified its shared passion for mental and behavioral health—something that has affected many of the trustees personally.

“In 2011, we didn’t have a designated road map or even a mission statement,” says Brent Hagey, a Farris Foundation trustee and board president. Now, the foundation is grounded in a commitment to a cause close to its heart. “Ultimately, we are a family foundation. What brings us all to the table is a concern for mental health issues.”

While the foundation has created a big tent for collective grantmaking in the vast field of mental health, each trustee retains control over discretionary funds to pursue their individual interests.  Through discretionary giving in six states across the country, trustees are working closely with community foundations to allocate about 65 percent of the foundation’s grants budget, while learning a lot about local needs and different approaches to health and well-being. The Farris Foundation enjoys an unusually large overlap between collective and discretionary giving.

The alignment of trustees’ individual interests with the Farris Foundation’s focus on mental health and wellness has created a cohesive rather than divisive dynamic. The learning in both areas reinforces each other and trustees are better equipped for shared decision making. Because trustees are able to respond more quickly and take more risk locally on their own, an individual may fund a project proposed to the foundation that would not necessarily gain collective approval.

Read the full article about grantee relationships by Prentice Zinn at the National Center for Family Philanthropy.