Snagging a Family Foundation Job

Q. I have spent 12 years as a chief fund raiser for religious organizations, with small administrative teams and budgets of up to $3-million. Now, a local family foundation that gives about $1-million in grants per year is hiring its first executive director, and I want the job. I have established good contacts with several foundation executives, but am worried about my lack of experience in areas such as foundation tax law. How can I present my current qualifications and acquire new ones as I prepare to pursue this job?

A. “Play to your strengths,” advises Karen Green, managing director of family foundation services at the Council on Foundations, in Washington. “You already have many of the skills these folks can use.” The staff at a midsize family foundation such as this is likely to comprise just one or two full-time staff members and perhaps one administrative support person, she notes. What they will probably need from an executive director is a well-skilled generalist. Family-foundation staff members typically get hired for a combination of the following: trustworthiness, expertise in the issues the family wishes to support, experience in nonprofit fund raising (including applying for grants), knowledge of the community, good communication skills, and solid organizational abilities. So be sure to highlight such skills in your interview.

That said, she adds, both family foundation boards and staff do indeed need to be familiar with key legal concepts, such as the federal requirement that foundations distribute an average of 5 percent of their assets for charitable purposes each year. She recommends a brief and accessible book for nonlawyers called Family Foundations & the Law: What You Need To Know, published by the Council on Foundations, which can be purchased ($55 for nonmembers, $30 for members) through the organization’s Web site. (Click on “Publications” and do a search for the title.) Tax-exempt-organization law is quite specialized, and few lawyers are familiar with it, she says, so chances are that the foundation employs a consultant as needed for any in-depth tax issues. So, she says, while you will certainly need to understand the basics, there is no need to master the finer points.

Most important is your overall “fit” with the foundation, says Alfred Castle, executive director of and a member of the family that created the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation, in Honolulu. “Family foundations look carefully at the important intangibles,” he says. “For instance, does the applicant match the ‘culture’ of the family?” He suggests that you take time to study the family’s history and its characteristics, because, while technical skills are important, the standout applicant will be the one who is prepared to show a keen understanding of the family’s philanthropic purpose and can add value to it. You must also genuinely feel comfortable with this aspect of family dynamics and not force a match where there is not one, he adds. Family foundations are different from other grant makers, he says, in that personal values play a prominent role in decision making.

Lastly, Mr. Castle — who also served as a vice president for university advancement at California State University at San Marcos — encourages you to promote your fund-raising skills when you apply for this grant-making job. Fund raisers know how to plan, deal with a variety of constituencies, and manage and create resources, he says. Moreover, your background gives you a good understanding of nonprofit organizations from within. “Many excellent executive directors today,” he notes, “were once chief fund-raising officers or heads of grant-seeking nonprofits.”