Family Foundations

Family foundation funds are typically derived from members of a single family. Most family foundations are run by family members who serve as trustees or directors. In many cases, second- and third-generation descendants of the original donors manage the foundation. There are over 40,000 family foundations operating in the U.S. and almost 900 operating in Canada. Family foundations range in asset size from a few hundred thousand dollars to more than $1 billion. 

After you have secured funding from a few local businesses and have possibly approached your community foundation, consider applying for a small grant from a family foundation. If you can demonstrate local and regional support from businesses, a community foundation, and a family foundation or two, then securing awards from governments and national funders is often easier.

More family foundations plan to expand their giving priorities in the next few years and are more likely to give multi-year grants and increase capacity-building support. If you have never received funding from a family foundation, now may be the time to make this happen. Keep the request fairly small if this is your first time approaching a particular family foundation.

Family foundations are known for supporting the same organizations year after year. If you can secure a spot with a family foundation, it can represent a relatively stable percentage of your annual grants income.

Independent and family foundations continue to be a reliable funding source for many organizations. In the 2020 State of Grantseeking Report, 82% of the respondents reported receiving awards from these foundations, so submitting proposals to them should be a high priority. The actual foundation may change year to year, but the percentage these types of foundations represent of your overall grants income should remain relatively the same.

Independent and family foundation grant awards can range from very small awards to grants in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Try for a mixture of small annual awards as well as larger, one-time, or multi-year grants. Creating a healthy mix equates to financial sustainability.

According to the 2020 State of Grantseeking Report, independent and family foundations fund organizations with small (under $100,000) budgets at a lower rate than they fund organizations with medium to large budgets. If you fall into the small category, consider forming a collaboration with a few other organizations.

Family foundations often want to engage in philanthropy that goes beyond writing a check. Try to engage the leadership of the foundation in helping to solve the problem or need you are trying to address, as this will help to assure ongoing support.

It is important to build relationships with family foundation leadership. Start with a smaller request and build your credibility. Your job is to engage the next generation of philanthropists.

Many family foundations are trending toward giving away the corpus of their fund, so you want to position your organization to receive a large gift when and if the opportunity arises.

Family foundations continue to use a variety of grantmaking strategies, with a majority of them reporting awards of multi-year grants and general operating support grants.

Go to our Charitable Giving database for the U.S. or Canada and use the Type of Grantmaker filter to select “Foundation, Fund, or Trust.” From the name of the grantmakers, you can often identify family foundations.

Many older and larger family foundations focus their giving geographically, while the majority of newer family foundations (formed since 2010) focus their giving on issues. Study the history of the family foundation before you apply. Take a good look at their past giving to determine if they are focused on geography or issues.

Family foundations may reject your first one or two grant requests. This is not unusual, as they are just starting to learn about who you are and what you do. Be persistent. If your organization is a good fit for the foundation's guildelines, don’t give up after a couple of rejections.

The newest family foundations appear to place a higher value on transparency. They are more likely to communicate reasons why proposals are declined, they are open to soliciting feedback from grantees, and they are often interested in engaging community leaders and issue-area experts, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion specialists. If you have any questions regarding a declined (or funded) proposal, you should consider contacting the foundation to discuss it further.