Giving Strategies for Foundations, Families and Individuals
Unlock the full potential of your philanthropy with OCF’s expert support services tailored to private and family foundations, individual families, and commercial donor-advised fund holders.
Did you know that OCF can provide philanthropic support services to your private or family foundation and to you if you have a commercial donor advised fund? You can reap the benefits of OCF’s enhanced services and deep knowledge about philanthropy in Oregon even if you don’t have an OCF fund. OCF can provide support for your giving using a fee-for-service model.
OCF Giving Strategies include a suite of enhanced services supporting generous Oregonians like you in reaching your philanthropic goals. We work with individuals, their families, and their foundations to have meaningful conversations, clarify their mission and values, articulate what they hope to achieve and find the path to achieving them.
OCF is uniquely positioned to offer the following benefits:
- Expert guidance
- Deep engagement
- Amplified impact
“Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) has been assisting our family for decades in philanthropy through various advised funds. OCF’s guidance in establishing the Austin Family Foundation was instrumental in helping us define and work towards our philanthropic objectives. Their partnership throughout the years has been vital to our success and we highly recommend their services for your philanthropic journey.”
Austin Family Foundation Board of Directors
HOW IT WORKS
Consultation: We begin with an initial exploratory meeting to discuss individual and family goals and address common questions.
Initial Proposal: OCF presents a proposal outlining the goals articulated in the consultation, a recommended pathway toward progress, and fees. Proposals are tailored to fit each individual’s or family’s unique needs and goals.
Collaborative Action: Donors or representatives collaborate with OCF to accomplish established goals based on the plan in the proposal.
Meaningful Impact: With OCF’s help, families and individuals build on their successes, supporting the causes they care about in a way that is meaningful and impactful.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU
We engage with individuals and families to learn about their needs and goals and then we build a plan to support their work. Examples of how we support families and family foundations include:
Building a mission and vision statement: helping family members find shared values, including identifying the values they want to work from together in their giving.
Identifying focus areas for philanthropic impact: working from a social science research-based approach, learning about needs, opportunities and gaps around topic areas and/or geographical regions to help identify opportunities for philanthropic investment.
Building grantmaking programs: working with families to identify needs, build relationships with organizations and learn about the impact areas the family wants to invest in.
Facilitating family meetings: from simple meetings to a multiple day strategic planning retreat, our trained facilitators work with families to co-create and design gatherings that fit with the family’s needs and help them achieve their goals.
Below are examples of ways OCF has helped individuals and families with their philanthropic legacy building and strategic giving.
“Engaging multiple generations of a family in giving together is an excellent tool to help families foster growth in their younger family members. This helps support engagement in the family business while giving back to community. OCF’s partnership helps us build alignment in a family, supporting their philanthropy, which in turn can help connect family members to the business. OCF’s expertise guides us each step of the way in a partnership that’s based in trust and a family-centered approach.”
Mark Green, Ph.D.
family business advisor to the Hampton family
Engaging family members
Advisors can help develop a custom giving strategy, advise on family governance and help families align values with giving. Families may participate in OCF-led trainings, gatherings and retreats to articulate goals and guide grantmaking.
Amplifying Impact
Families who work with OCF access specialized knowledge, statewide resources and education to increase positive outcomes from giving. With OCF, families learn strategies to assess grant requests and have access to OCF’s in-house research team. OCF helps identify opportunities to leverage funding resources and connects families with nonprofits and like-minded donors.
“I think Family Giving at OCF is a marvelous resource for those multigenerational families facing issues not just of philanthropy, but also of intrafamily communication, cooperation and understanding.”
Mike Hollern
Family Advisor
Legacy Building and Strategic Giving
Before joining with OCF, Sarah called her giving style a “peanut butter” approach – spreading a little bit of support among a long list of favored nonprofits with annual modest gifts.
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Intergenerational Giving and Sharing
Mary and Jim wanted their entire family to participate in philanthropy. Their family members were all in different life stages with different needs and interests.
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A Multi-Generation Family
Charitable giving has been in the DNA for four generations of the Jones Family Foundation. They wanted to keep the giving legacy alive for future generations through intentionally structured vehicles.
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Private Family Foundation Dissolves into a Donor Advised Fund
A large family with a deep philanthropic tradition struggled to maintain the family foundation established by their parents. Exercises with OCF led them to build a large DAF to recognize the legacy of their parents.
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Family Shares a Teachable Moment in Giving
A young couple had invested in a tech startup and at the IPO they set up a donor-advised fund (DAF) with shares of the stock and involved their three young children from the very beginning.
Learn MoreHow it Works
Advising begins with an initial exploratory meeting to discuss family goals and address common questions.
For those interested in exploring additional services, an OCF advisor presents a proposal outlining the goals articulated in the consultation, and a recommended pathway toward progress and fees, where applicable.
Donors or representatives collaborate with OCF to accomplish established goals.
With OCF’s help, families build on their successes, supporting the causes they care about in a way that is meaningful and impactful.
Eligibility
Funds don't need to reside at OCF in order for families to benefit from OCF expertise. Family Giving services are available to current OCF donors as well as private family foundations.
Pricing
OCF will work with you on a customized scope of work that fits your budget and goals.
Learn More
Curious to learn more about family giving? Download our Family Giving brochure, and browse our recommended list of resources.