Joe Breiteneicher: A Lifetime of Accomplishments and Impact

Selected Articles and Essays

Advisor's Enthusiasm Helps to Shape Client's Charitable Role
Advisors can add value to their practice by proactively supporting their clients' philanthropic interests.

The Road to Venturesome: A Guide to the Habits of More Engaged Donors
A discussion of the habits, traits, and practices of those more-engaged donors and funders who see their philanthropy as serious investment work.

The Strategic Corporate Citizen: Smart Philanthropy & Community Involvement
Corporate leadership increasingly requires that the effects of philanthropic and community involvement add value to the bottom line.

Community Foundations & The Coming Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth
Measures that newer community foundations should consider to strengthen their outreach to prospective donors and their advisors.

Lessons From Wingspread: The Ten Trillion Dollar Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth
The blueprint for many of the philanthropy promotion efforts of the past decade.

Quest for Funds Revisited: A Fund-Raising Starter Kit
A seminal yet lighthearted guide to strategic fundraising for grassroots community organizations (links to purchase page).

Joe Breiteneicher: A Lifetime of Accomplishments and Impact

Read and Share Memories of Joe

Please read and share stories and memories of Joe on Boston.com's special tribute page to Joe.

Memorial Event

On July 14, Joe's family and friends held a memorial event at the Old South Meeting House in Boston. Click here for more information.

View The Boston Globe's "A Wealth of Giving"

This article by Adrian Walker honors Joe's life and work, highlighting some of his contributions to the field of philanthropy. Read the full article here.

Joe Breiteneicher began working at TPI in 1990 as senior consultant to the rapidly growing field of organized philanthropy. Over the ensuing seventeen years he advised and mentored hundreds – if not thousands – of individuals, families, foundations and corporations, helping to shape and promote strategic and effective grant making in this country and abroad. Joe became President and CEO of TPI in 2001.

In his work at TPI, Joe helped to foster or create a wide variety of initiatives and innovations in philanthropy, including:

New Ventures in Philanthropy, a unique collaboration funded by major national foundations to stimulate local giving in communities around the country. It has attracted more than $570 million in new money to community foundation endowments, giving circles and other philanthropic vehicle.

International Network on Strategic Philanthropy, a forum for dialogue and critical thinking on the role of philanthropy and its impact on societies around the world. Begun in 2002, INSP now has 68 representatives of foundations and philanthropic support organizations, researchers and consultants from around the world that practice and support strategic philanthropy.

The Melville Charitable Trust, a family foundation begun in 1991 and devoted to ending homelessness; by funding social innovations that have radically transformed the housing and services field, the Trust has become a model for strategic philanthropy.

Prior to joining TPI, Joe was president of Beacon Management Company, a real estate management company with major holdings in the eastern U.S, and also was the founder of Boston’s Airport Water Shuttle Corporation. In these positions, he represented the private sector in numerous civic assignments in the Boston area, including chairing the Mayor’s Transportation Advisory Committee and the Chamber of Commerce’s Urban Design and Development Committee.

He was author or co-author of a number of essays and guides to effective and creative philanthropy, including a popular guide to strategic fundraising for grassroots community organizations published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation; a primer on effective philanthropy for emerging donors in Europe (Bertelsmann and Charities Aid foundations); and an essay on new approaches to strategic planning for funders in the 21st Century (John Wiley and Sons Press). He also initiated a graduate-level seminar on the nonprofit sector in America at Tufts University, where he was a Senior Fellow at the Lincoln Filene Center for Civic Education.

Joe had a special interest in expanding educational and employment opportunities for lower-income youth. He created a trade apprenticeship program for disadvantaged Boston high school students and was the first private sector chair of the Mayor’s Summer Job Program in Boston. He also organized a number of scholarship programs around the country and served as trustee of 13th Year, a prep school program for inner-city youth sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools and underwritten by the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund.

Joe served as trustee of the Civil Rights Project for almost two decades, and was national co-chair of the critically-acclaimed PBS series, “Eyes on the Prize.” He also served as trustee of Berea College in Appalachia, the Massachusetts Higher Education Financing Authority, the Carol DiMaiti Stuart Foundation, and St. Francis House in downtown Boston, the largest day program for the homeless in the city. Joe was a past member of the board of Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts, and was the founder of its ground-breaking Emergency Loan Fund. He also served as a past member of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on Public Charities.

Joe was a graduate of Harvard College.

He is survived by his wife Marsha Breiteneicher; Max Breiteneicher and Amy Whitter; Alexis Breiteneicher and Cabell Coursey; Denise Breiteneicher, Steve Vitello, and Sophia Vitello. Donations can be made to the Moose and Squirrel Foundation, care of the Boston Foundation, 75 Arlington Street, 10th Floor, Boston, MA 02116 U.S.A.