Helping a Small Family Foundation Think Big - Rediscovering the Field of Transformational Housing

Mindy Oakley and Owen Stearns

With a board of nineteen family members from two generations scattered all the way from Alaska to Florida – and only $15 million in assets – the Marie C. & Joseph C. Wilson Foundation was having a difficult time setting its future direction. Originally funded by Joseph C. Wilson, the founder of Xerox Corporation, and his wife Marie C. Wilson, the Foundation remained rooted in Rochester, New York where they had lived and worked – even though today three-quarters of the Board members live elsewhere.

When the Foundation first approached FSG, the Board had little common agreement about its current and future purpose, and no consensus about how to choose a focus or select grantees. The diverse range of ages, careers, interests, and locations of the family members appeared to be a serious problem.

But FSG saw the opportunity to create a strategy that built on the Foundation’s current realities – using the talents and locations of its Board members as an asset. FSG began by examining the Foundation’s unique strengths, experiences, and skills that might help to create impact around a defined issue.

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