Somewhat related to private foundations, but also distinct in terms of organizations: I think EA should consider more organized and systematic outreach to the people who work in ‘family offices’, which are the small organizations that very rich families use to run their properties, investments, and donations. Sometimes family offices have their own private foundations, and sometimes private foundations are associated with family offices, but they’re distinct things.
There’s a Family Office Association that runs events, offers resources, coaching, etc. They might be worth learning about.
My impression is that outreach to the staff at small family offices might be more tractable than outreach to large foundations—but that often, they have quite a bit of influence over charitable giving, and a lot of money under their stewardship.
(Epistemic status: I know very little about this field, beyond what I learned from watching the TV series ‘Billions’, and knowing a few families who have family offices.)
Great observation Geoffrey. One of the data points most important is to determine if the PF is a family foundation. I don’t have much knowledge of family offices that don’t include a PF, but that seems like a very smart group to target!
Kyle—good idea.
Somewhat related to private foundations, but also distinct in terms of organizations: I think EA should consider more organized and systematic outreach to the people who work in ‘family offices’, which are the small organizations that very rich families use to run their properties, investments, and donations. Sometimes family offices have their own private foundations, and sometimes private foundations are associated with family offices, but they’re distinct things.
There’s a Family Office Association that runs events, offers resources, coaching, etc. They might be worth learning about.
My impression is that outreach to the staff at small family offices might be more tractable than outreach to large foundations—but that often, they have quite a bit of influence over charitable giving, and a lot of money under their stewardship.
(Epistemic status: I know very little about this field, beyond what I learned from watching the TV series ‘Billions’, and knowing a few families who have family offices.)
Great observation Geoffrey. One of the data points most important is to determine if the PF is a family foundation. I don’t have much knowledge of family offices that don’t include a PF, but that seems like a very smart group to target!