Foundation Unites Family
At that festive time of year when family comes together, the Lumpkins do something a little different. The many young adults form a circle with Cristine Betters. They range in age from 8 to 16. These Lumpkin descendents discuss their proposals. Cristine facilitates the conversation. The young adults researched their individual causes and completed applications. Now they argue the worth of their cause to the group. With Cristine smoothing the process along, the kids vote on what organizations, as a group, they would like to contribute funds to. Does this sound like your usual family reunion? For descendents of Besse A. Lumpkin, the woman who started the Lumpkin Family Foundation, this gathering of young people to make grants is quickly becoming a tradition at their family meeting.
Besse A. Lumpkin created the Lumpkin Family Foundation in 1953 with $100,000 from her estate. See the Lumpkin Family Foundation History for details on the origins of the family wealth. Family members continue to contribute to the foundation which has distributed more than $13 million mostly to regional non-profit organizations.
Like many other foundations currently, the Lumpkin Family Foundation seeks to balance strategy and efficiency with personal and family passion. MAD Mavens honors them with the MAD Mavens Family Wealth Award for putting their wealth in service to their family. The Lumpkin Family Foundation has multiple granting programs. A program in central Illinois, where Besse Lumpkin lived, honors the common values of the family -- health, environment, and education. See both the Central Illinois Program and the Downstate Illinois Conservation Program. The Regional Program also honors the family's value of education. It serves locations in close proximity to the descendents of the family, including San Francisco, Albuquerque, Chicago, and Philadelphia among others.
The Nonprofit Excellence Program (NEP) is a supportive program that facilitates nonprofits. The website explains: "Through the NEP, The Lumpkin Family Foundation strengthens the core skills and competencies required for continuous improvement by individual organizations and the nonprofit sector as a whole." This program acknowledges the interconnectedness of the foundation and non-profit sectors by offering training workshops, microgrants (to help with costs associated with professional development), capacity building grants, and nonprofit gatherings (including conferences). Great leverage.
To make a bigger impact, we look for the best ways to give, the best places to give to, the best way to get more value from the gift (such as through matching or challenge grants), and the value the gift gives to the identity of the givers. The structure of the granting at the Lumpkin Family Foundation excels in each of these:
- uses clear missions and very targeted scopes
- contributes to a mix of operating support and program initiation funds
- encourages matching and challenge grants
- seeks leverage points for gifts
- builds up the community of nonprofits
- involves the family and honors their values
Family members, spouses, and children get involved with the Family Foundation. Each generation has clear roles within the foundation. The Foundations engages the youngest members as early as possible in practicing philanthropy. Gifts are made through unity and consensus.
Strategies that you can use from the Lumpkin Family Foundation:
- Even in small amounts of money or time young people can be engaged in giving.
- Values are not genetic, they are taught by example. Articulate the core values of the family and show how you act on those values.
- Engage each generation at their capability level and find common ground.
- Address challenges from many angles and perspectives.
