CASE STUDY
A Family Foundation in Transition
A family foundation with a national reputation for scientific philanthropy decided to turn its focus toward the region it called home. They needed a leader who could turn that intention into a working strategy.
“We knew we wanted to make an impact in our own backyard. We just didn’t know yet how to turn that into a strategy until we worked with BoardWalk.”
- Board Chair, Family Foundation
The Challenge
For decades, a family foundation had built its reputation funding scientific research on a national scale and was gaining recognition globally as well. But as the founder’s grandchildren began taking on a larger role in the organization’s leadership, the family reached a decision that would reshape everything: it was time to turn the foundation’s full attention toward the region it called home, and toward the economic and social disparities the family had watched play out for years in their own community.
The foundation’s longtime president was retiring, and her successor would need to do more than manage an endowment. They would need to translate a still-forming family vision into a working strategy, build credibility in a community the foundation had never funded at this scale, and do it while navigating the layered dynamics of a multigenerational family board finding its way from one generation’s leadership to the next. With approximately $700 million in assets and regional grantmaking poised to grow substantially over the coming years, the decisions made during this transition would shape how the foundation invested in its community for decades to come.
The family knew where they wanted to go. They did not yet know how to connect community, nonprofit, and philanthropic actors into something coherent, or how to find a leader with the credibility to do it. And because this was a genuine strategic pivot rather than a routine succession, there was little room for a false start. The right hire needed local legitimacy and cross-sector fluency from day one.
The Decision
To help navigate this pivot, the foundation brought in BoardWalk Consulting to lead the search for its next president. Before a single candidate was considered, we spent time understanding the foundation’s history, the family’s evolving vision, and what success in this new chapter would actually require.
Because multiple generations of the family held a stake in the outcome, alignment could not be assumed. Individual family members brought different perspectives on what the foundation’s new focus should look like and what kind of leader could carry it forward. We met with family members individually and together to bring those varying viewpoints into a shared picture of success.
Over the course of the engagement,
We facilitated discussions with a search committee of approximately 5 to 10 members, interviewed roughly 10 additional stakeholders,
Interviewed roughly 10 additional stakeholders; and
Engaged more than two dozen trusted sources.
Those conversations shaped every aspect of the search, which allowed us to identify leaders whose experience aligned with both the family’s vision and the community’s needs.
This deeper understanding shaped how we sourced the search. We prioritized candidates with real ties to the region and firsthand understanding of the disparities the foundation intended to address, along with a track record operating across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. A leader who could speak only the language of philanthropy would not be enough. This foundation needed someone equally at home with community organizations, government, and business.
From nearly 50 prospective candidates, we identified a small group of finalists, most of whom brought both deep regional roots and leadership experience spanning the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
The Outcome
The search concluded with the placement of a new president whose background spans the private and public sectors, with a career built around health equity work and deep lived experience within the community the foundation now serves. The family’s reaction was, by their own account, a hire they had not truly believed possible until they saw it happen.
The new president quickly began putting the family’s vision into action. During the first year, the foundation directed approximately $15 to $20 million in grants across the region while also refreshing its brand and public presence to reflect its new strategic direction.
What mattered as much as the placement was what the process left behind: a family board aligned around a shared vision, and a foundation with real clarity about how it intended to show up in its own community. What started as a search engagement has become an ongoing partnership, one that feels more like family than a client relationship.
Nearly five years later, BoardWalk continues to serve as a trusted advisor to the foundation. The executive we placed has since participated in future search efforts and become a valued ambassador for attracting mission-driven talent to the region, a reflection of the enduring partnership that grew from the original engagement.
BoardWalk Consulting is an executive search firm and trusted partner to mission-driven organizations facing leadership transitions that are too consequential to hand to a firm that treats them like a transaction. Before we develop a leadership profile, we conduct a listening tour, engaging boards, staff, and stakeholders to build a profile that reflects not just the role, but the moment. We run a small number of searches at a time, on purpose, because every engagement deserves senior attention from start to finish.
If your organization is facing a leadership transition where the stakes are too high for trial and error, let’s talk. Visit boardwalkconsulting.com/contact to start the conversation.
