As the zeroes on mega gifts grow as fast as ants on fallen candy, the methods, and vehicles for giving continue to diversify. First, it was the trusty (pun intended) family foundation. Now there is the handy and potentially anonymous donor-advised fund. Along the way, the Zuckerberg Chan Initiative LLC in 2015 brought worldwide attention to the LLC structure, which was also the choice du jour for Jeff Bezos and his Bezos Earth Fund LLC in 2021.
But the dollars and the reputational risk loom larger and larger for these mega-donors. How can a philanthropist effectively manage multiple giving vehicles, personal and/or family philanthropic objectives, reputation, and other facets of a sprawling philanthropic effort?
Manage it like a business, of course!
At Aspire Research Group, we’ve noticed something that’s not new, but we are seeing more often. Maybe you’ve known about this for a while or just didn’t give it much thought because you were focused on the giving like we were.
We took notice because I’m such a stickler over incorporation records. If we can know something public, I feel we should seek it out and confirm it. Of course, since the U.S. has become a destination to hide company ownership, it isn’t always possible to know who owns an entity, but we should at least be able to find out where and when it was incorporated.
So, when we came across a prospect that was clearly operating with a name we could not verify as incorporated, I fussed. I threw the name out there in Google and found a director’s bio with the family philanthropies name – and it had the distinctive little “TM” after the name. It was a trademarked name!
Consider the case of Crown Family Philanthropies.
Their story is the quintessential American immigrant story! After immigrating to this country, the family established a successful company that grew and flourished and now brings together generations of family members through its philanthropy.
“In 2009, after more than 60 years of family grantmaking under the name Arie and Ida Crown Memorial, Crown Family Philanthropies (CFP) was developed to represent an array of family grantmaking practices… Supported by a professional staff of experts, CFP is led by more than 50 family members across multiple generations who come together to set strategy and make grantmaking decisions.”
Arie and Ida Crown Memorial own four trademarks, including Crown Family Philanthropies (Trademark Records).
Consider a trademark search, but also work to better understand wealthy philanthropy.
The next time you can’t quite figure out what legal structure a wealthy individual or family is employing to operate their philanthropy, you might try adding “trademark” as a keyword when searching the organization’s name.
But don’t stop there.
All of the trends (I hope) you are reading about are often easy to spot when you know what you expect to find. For example, the Crown Family Philanthropies holds a trademark for Chi-Rise. This appears to be an initiative run by the family and the family’s website still listed a Chi-Rise Program Officer on staff when this post was published. This fits the trend for philanthropists, especially younger generations, wanting to be more hands-on in solving a specific issue.
The Arie and Ida Crown Memorial continues to exist as an incorporated entity with IRS status as a private foundation. As part of its required reporting, we learn from the tax return that they have paid for services from Revolution Impact, a social impact consulting firm. This is a hot clue about their interests!
But it’s not just about giving.
The foundation’s tax return also paid Jea Consulting, a security firm. I can suspect that because this is a very wealthy Jewish family, they have concerns for personal safety.
And that brings us back to the use of trademarks as one tool to manage a family’s philanthropic brand.
It can be difficult for us fundraising staff earning nonprofit salaries to imagine the daily lives, concerns, and interests of a family managing billions in assets, but for the prospect research professional, there are many clues available that we can carefully weave into a story that will resonate with our frontline development officers.
I hope Aspire’s moment of discovery inspires you to persistently question everything!
Do you have a tip or insight for finding important philanthropic information? Consider leaving a comment here or hopping over to the free Learning Community Forums and joining the conversation.