Many successful families are private about their missions and philanthropic priorities, so it can be hard to establish a benchmark for giving and social impact. And it can be equally challenging to find a community to connect with for best practices and sharing knowledge.
In January of this year, we spoke with 225 family foundations with endowments between $250,000 and $500 million to better understand their plans for 2024. What we learned covers plans for their grantmaking and endowments, philanthropic priorities and challenges, as well as areas where they’d like to collaborate with other foundations and expand their knowledge.
As family offices and family members evaluate impact and set goals for the year ahead, these key findings can help spur new ideas and foster a better understanding of areas to focus on.
Better together: Complementary approaches
Many respondents use a combination of charitable vehicles and approaches to achieve greater impact and align their assets with their values. For instance, using a private foundation and a donor-advised fund together may deliver a higher charitable deduction while offering other benefits. Whereas a planned gift, such as a charitable gift annuity, could offer an income stream to the donor or their family members in conjunction with a significant gift to a nonprofit.
| Percentage Use | Vehicle/Method |
| 79.5% | Private foundations |
| 47.0% | Direct gifts |
| 18.7% | Donor-advised funds |
| 9.1% | Impact investing |
| 7.3% | Charitable trusts |
| 5.9% | Planned or legacy gifts |
Getting down to business: Priorities in 2024
Priorities for this year spanned a variety of topics, but the top goal for nearly two-thirds of respondents was involving the next generation of their family in the foundation. About three in 10 will look for new grantee partners, while about one-quarter will look for ways to collaborate with other foundations.
| Percentage | 2024 Priorities |
| 62.3% | Involving the next generation in foundation activities |
| 30.2% | Seeking new grantee partners |
| 23.6% | Collaborating with other funders |
| 17.6% | Responding to disasters and emergencies |
| 16.6% | Working with a financial adviser or wealth manager on charitable giving |
| 13.6% | Adding or changing board members |
| 10.6% | Working with a philanthropic adviser |
| 7.0% | Adding foundation staff |
| 3.5% | Investing in technology to drive philanthropic impact and/or efficiencies |
Growing pains
While most hurdles cited by private foundations were related to creating and measuring impact with limited resources, the top concern for the year ahead was engaging the next generation. As noted previously, engaging the next generation was also the top priority for family foundations. Being cited as both a priority and a challenge is a clear indication that families know that engaging the next generation is important and difficult, requiring special attention to flourish.
| Percentage | Expected Challenges |
| 34.5% | Engaging the next generation |
| 29.6% | Measuring impact |
| 26.7% | Creating bigger impact |
| 25.7% | Devoting sufficient time to foundation matters |
| 25.7% | Prioritizing grant opportunities |
| 17.0% | Keeping pace with inflation |
| 15.5% | Doing more with less |
| 14.1% | Better serving our grantees |
| 10.2% | Addressing unexpected needs |
| 7.3% | Understaffing |
| 6.3% | Communicating with the rest of the sector |
Learning for life
Since private foundations typically operate over an extended time frame, learning is critical to the organization’s continued success. About 40% of family foundations want to know more about best practices in order to run their foundations more effectively and efficiently. Other topics that rank high for foundations have to do with ensuring the ongoing involvement of family members and trustees to build a lasting legacy.
| Percentage | Interested in Learning More About |
| 39.6% | Foundation best practices |
| 35.5% | Managing succession |
| 34.0% | Ways to get family involved |
| 28.9% | Building a legacy with a foundation |
| 27.4% | Regulatory changes |
| 23.9% | Foundation governance |
| 22.3% | Foundation compliance |
| 20.3% | Grantmaking tools |
| 19.8% | Hearing from other funders |
| 15.2% | Tax-efficient planning |
| 13.2% | Using generative AI in grantmaking |
| 10.7% | The role of public policy in philanthropy |
| 6.6% | Sunsetting |
Leading a family foundation can sometimes feel overwhelming, but having a bird’s-eye view of the common challenges and priorities of similar organizations can serve as a critical input to setting and achieving goals. In our experience, every private foundation is unique, with its own mission, systems and processes. However, there is much to gain from connecting with the community of grantmakers and learning about trends at large — and where your foundation fits into the picture.