Philanthropic Advising

Individuals, families, foundations, and corporations use The Trust to amplify their giving. Our deep bench of local experts and commitment to meeting donors’ needs enables us to efficiently identify groups that align with donors’ values and objectives.

Individuals & Families

No matter how you want to make an impact, we can help you turn a variety of assets into a force for good. Leverage the unrivalled local expertise of our program team to support your grantmaking through grant recommendations, nonprofit site visits, and more.

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A man and a woman wearing sunglasses smile for the camera overlooking the Mohonk Preserve in upstate New York. — Father and daughter duo John and Amy Wolf received advising from our team to learn about nonprofits working in education and literacy. They made a grant to Book Fairies, whose programs support equitable access to books for children in our region and beyond.

How We Work with Individuals & Families

Wherever you are on your giving journey, we can help you define your charitable goals.

We conduct research and provide recommendations

We facilitate planning sessions

We arrange site visits

We can run your grant program

We conduct research and provide recommendations

Learn about nonprofits

By leveraging our knowledge of our local community and conducting research on the issues you care about, we can recommend effective nonprofits whose work aligns with your goals. Then together, we’ll shape a giving plan.

We facilitate planning sessions

Leave the planning to us

We can work with you and your family members to create short- and long-term grantmaking strategies, including by facilitating planning retreats and helping family members, donors, and advisors reach consensus on a grant strategy.

We arrange site visits

Connect to the community

We can help introduce you to nonprofit leaders, arrange site visits to programs, and facilitate meetings with nonprofit grantees.

We can run your grant program

Do more without hiring staff

The Trust can run a full-service grantmaking program for you. Our staff can issue requests for proposals, identify and select nonprofits, conduct due diligence and arrange site visits, administer the grants and associated paperwork, monitor and evaluate the impact of the work, and create summary reports for your foundation.

I appreciated the down-to-earth guidance I got from The Trust's philanthropic advising team on how we can focus our family's donor-advised fund on the issues most important to us.

John Wolf, donor-advised fund founder

Private Foundations

The Trust can amplify and expand your grantmaking without hiring staff. We manage full-service grantmaking programs for a variety of family and private foundations. Our staff can identify nonprofits; vet them and conduct site visits; administer the grants process; and monitor and evaluate the impact of the work for your foundation.

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A close up of a microphone on stage — Professional performing artists were provided cash assistance through a partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation.

Having worked closely together before, our foundation knew The Trust had the expertise to help us quickly disseminate application information and distribute grants nationwide.

Maurine Knighton, chief program officer at the Doris Duke Foundation chief program officer at the Doris Duke Foundation

Corporations

Many corporations want to give charitably in a way that elevates their brand and echoes their core values. The Trust helps corporations develop a giving strategy, bolster their presence in local communities, and make grants that drive positive change in their communities.

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A volunteer organizing canned goods — A New York Life Foundation grant to Island Harvest Food Bank helped families in Nassau County.

I have greatly enjoyed working with the team at The Trust. In addition to helping us shape the program (and then reshape after the pandemic hit), they worked with us to develop the application, manage a team of reviewers, and helped inform the grant decisions.

Marlyn Torres, senior program officer at the New York Life Foundation

Government

We have decades of experience conceiving grantmaking programs and driving change for a variety of municipal and state government entities. We help governments issue targeted requests for proposals and develop appropriate due diligence processes. We also design systems to monitor and evaluate the impact of grants.

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