Foundation Administration & Advisory Services

Step One: Compliance and Your Foundation

The fact is, private foundations are subject to an overwhelming number of complex and evolving regulations: the tax code, S.E.C. regulations, fiduciary duties, governance requirements and state-specific rules. Failure to abide by them can leave you financially and legally exposed. Foundation Source employs the field’s leading tax and legal experts who monitor your foundation for compliance issues and give you and your advisors the information needed to steer clear of trouble while maximizing tax savings. We prepare and file your foundation’s tax returns, so you can rest assured that your foundation is safe from mistakes that could lead to unwanted public scrutiny or even IRS penalties.

Step Two:Operational Effectiveness

Family and donor-led foundations can be complex organizations. It’s almost like running a small business, but with special layers of administrative, reporting and filing requirements. Writing a grant check is simple enough, but setting up a governance structure, tending to investments, establishing policies and procedures, managing document flow, and attending to administrative duties can be tedious. Foundation Source easily handles the day-to-day needs of foundation administration, such as verifying a charity’s 501(c)(3) status, issuing grant checks and grant letters, paying foundation expenses, and more. All the details are taken care of by experts, and best practices are built right into our systems and processes.

Step Three:Engaging the Family

Getting family members involved is often a primary reason for establishing a foundation—often just as important as having an impact in the external world. Successful foundations strengthen family bonds and help members discover what they stand for. They serve as a training ground to build practical competencies such as leadership, teamwork, investment management and social awareness. And they connect family members scattered throughout the country and around the world. Working as a team makes your philanthropy more fun and rewarding.

Step Four:Mission and Impact

Missions can range from the modest (e.g., making one’s town a better place in which to live), to the ambitious: fast-tracking research on a disease that claimed a family member.

But achieving real, measurable impact is far from easy. There will never be enough money to solve all the world’s problems—or even your community’s. And it’s tempting to throw money at too many projects or programs or be lured by the varied interests and recommendations trumpeted by family, friends and colleagues. The lack of a tightly focused purpose can waste time and money, dissolve morale and slow momentum. Foundation Source can help you articulate your mission and leverage your resources intelligently, maximizing the impact of every dollar for real, measurable results.

Step Five:Continuity, Legacy and Change

Successful foundations know that it’s futile to resist change. Instead, they plan for it, realizing apathy can be dangerous. Sudden asset growth can outstrip a foundation’s ability to deploy its money wisely, leading to waste, sloppiness and damage to the family brand. Failure to prepare the next generation leaves the foundation without trained leaders. High-performing family foundations steer clear of these pitfalls. Instead of fearing change, they embrace it, knowing that self-examination and reinvention are the keys to a fresh and thriving philanthropic enterprise. If set up for perpetuity, they can be a kind of time capsule, preserving the founders’ interests and values for generations to come. No matter what changes are in store for your private foundation, Foundation Source can help. We believe that you and your successors will look back, years from now, and be glad Foundation Source was there to provide advice and continuity during times of change.