Jeffrey Haskell

Chief Legal Officer & Executive VP

Q: When did you join Foundation Source? What drew you to the company?

I joined Foundation Source before it was incorporated in 2000. Prior to my role at Foundation Source, I worked in corporate tax law and also taught mergers and acquisitions. However, I felt there was something missing. I didn’t feel fulfilled, and there was no passion for the work I was doing. I craved a human element, and an obvious way to fulfill this need was through trusts and estates. When meeting with clients, the subject of private foundations would come up and I found myself sitting at this unique intersection of tax and trusts and estates law that I found appealing.

Meanwhile, I was acquainted with two philanthropic brothers, Avi and Neil Greenbaum, who would become the founders of Foundation Source. They saw a need for the professional management of family foundations. They asked me about my knowledge of private foundations and shared their idea for a business—one that would become Foundation Source. I always had a strong streak of entrepreneurship within me, and the idea of being a part of something and figuring it out and building it was very attractive. The opportunity to go in-house doesn’t come around every day for tax lawyers and trusts and estates. My mentor and former partner and I met with the founders and asked lots of questions. She then recommended that I quit my job, saying “This is your shot—one day, they’ll be a multi-billion dollar company.” Even though Foundation Source then had no clients or stable financing, and an unproven business model, I took the plunge. And I never had so much fun in my life. I woke up every day with energy and passion.

Q: What is your role?

As the Chief Legal Officer, I’m responsible for providing guidance on legal and tax issues to the foundations that the company serves. I work with and provide guidance to a team of attorneys, accountants and support professionals who provide tax reporting services to clients of the company as well as support to foundations and their advisors on a range of issues including Program- and Mission-Related Investments, grants to individuals, expenditure responsibility grants, equivalency determinations, scholarship and award programs, set-aside projects, return preparation, and compliance with the many nuanced tax rules that apply to private foundations, including self-dealing, minimum required distributions, and excess business holdings. I also look out for the company, helping to identify and mitigate risk.

Q: How have you affected change and/or supported clients in your role?

In the beginning, there was no product team (there wasn’t even a product person). So, the founders relied on me and my knowledge of the IRS tax code and regulations to help write the product specifications and determine what we needed to build. My initial goal was to remove the barrier to entry by figuring out a streamlined way to set up foundations and obtain the IRS’s recognition of their tax status as charitable foundations. The key was to leverage technology to make things scale and to automate as much as possible. I created templates and starter documents and wrote thousands of pages of product specifications for the developers to program on…all based on my IRS knowledge of the tax code and regulations. This included everything from the calculations and formulas for calculating the 5% minimum distribution, presenting it online, and tracking its fulfillment, to providing the rules for showing the green check marks and red x’s on the charity database. I also wrote the templates for grant letters, completed all the tax returns, and worked directly with our clients and people at the IRS.

Q: What was your favorite project and/or what do you remember most fondly?

We had a client whose employee’s family was impacted by a typhoon. At the time, there were hardly any foundations giving hardship grants because the IRS doesn’t give you the “nuts and bolts,” and our client didn’t want to get it wrong. One of the most exciting things I did was to figure out how to make this scale for grants to individuals. I worked directly with the IRS to figure this out. Today, we have a streamlined process and forms for our private foundation clients to make hardship, emergency, medical, and disaster relief grants to individuals without needing the IRS’s prior approval.

Q: What are your favorite causes and/or charities?

The Hoffberger Institute for Text Study Inc., which was formed to disseminate educational information pertaining to the analysis of Biblical text. I helped set up this charity and served on its original board for many years and helped edit several books published by that charity. I also serve as a mentor for the Partners in Torah, a public charity, where I’ve been an instructor for more than 10 years, meeting with students and presenting on Biblical text in the U.S. and abroad (my current student lives in Winnipeg).

Alex Savin

Deputy National Director of Client Services

Q: When did you join Foundation Source? What is your role?

I joined in September 2008. Currently, I am just beginning a new transition over to our Product Team, but for the past 8 years, I have managed our Premier Services Team in Client Services and also serve as the primary client advisor for a select group of Foundation Source clients.

Q: What drew you to the company?

The philanthropic aspect of it. I came from the finance industry and had no idea a company like Foundation Source even existed. What immediately drew my interest was the philanthropic advisory component of our services. But I have since discovered several other areas that aligned with my own strengths and interests, and where I could also add value to Foundation Source, which also explains why I’m still here nearly 17 years later!

Q: How have you affected change and/or supported clients in your role?

As a member of Client Services, I’ve served as the direct point of contact for so many different types of clients during my time here, guiding them through all aspects of our service offerings, and working directly alongside all of our various internal departments to ensure our clients are getting what they need.

Q: You’ve seen us evolve as a company. What change(s) are most striking for you?

I don’t know that it has been any one, specific change, per se, but I would say the rate of accelerated change and growth over the past year has definitely been most striking compared to what we have previously experienced.

Q: What do you think the next 25 years will hold for Foundation Source?

Predicting the future is never easy. But I would say more growth in the next 25 years is a pretty safe bet, for sure. And an increased reliance on technology–both internally and externally–so that our employees can perform their work more efficiently and effectively and our clients can enjoy an even more frictionless, feature-rich and highly-responsive experience than they experience today.

Q: What are you most excited about for the future of philanthropy?

There is no shortage of issues in our world that need to be addressed, and I don’t expect that to change any time soon. One of the more rewarding aspects of working in Client Services has been hearing our clients talk about the world’s various problems that they are closest to or most passionate about – many of which I wouldn’t have even known existed before hearing from them. So, I think my hope is that those who have a keen understanding of all the various challenges we have in the world, along with a plan for what needs to be done to effectively address them, will have the means necessary – whatever that may be – to effectively carry out the positive change that is so needed.

Q: What was your favorite project and/or what do you remember most fondly?

It’s hard to pick just one, but I think for me, as a manager, it has been helping to train and mentor others who have flourished and grown their own careers here at Foundation Source over the years to become major contributors to our company overall. I’ve been lucky enough to have great managers and mentors here who have helped me get to where I am today and being able to return that favor by helping others feels like one way in which the results of my work can truly have a much larger, far-reaching impact.

Q: What’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen a client do?

This is also a tough one. But just last month, I attended an event in New York City for one of my clients that issues scholarships for students from Turkey to attend universities in the United States. And I was really blown away by how impressive these students are–to say nothing of the stories they shared around how these scholarships have dramatically changed their lives. That was pretty special and inspiring, and not something you see every day.

Tania Huete

Senior Director of Client Services and Operations

Q: When did you join Foundation Source and what is your role?

I joined Foundation Source in 2012 and one of my favorite aspects of my role as Senior Director of Client Services & Operations is building and nurturing relationships with our clients, learning about the causes that are important to them and witnessing the tangible outcomes of their philanthropic efforts.

Q: What drew you to the company?

What drew me to this company was its mission to empower private foundations to make a meaningful impact while ensuring compliance and operational excellence. I was inspired by the opportunity to support families and company foundations who are deeply committed to giving back to their communities and building a legacy.

Q: How have you affected change and/or supported clients in your role?

I support private foundation clients by providing strategic guidance tailored to their specific goals. Whether they need help structuring their giving, navigating complex compliance requirements, or engaging more effectively with their communities, I ensure they have the tools, resources and expertise to make informed decisions.

Q: You’ve seen us evolve as a company. What change(s) are most striking for you?

Over the years, I’ve seen our company evolve through continuous innovation to better serve our clients. We’re deeply committed to enhancing our tools and platform, making it easier than ever for clients to manage their day-to-day operations with efficiency and confidence, allowing them to focus less on administration and more on inspiring transformation.

We’d like to thank our Foundation Source team members for sharing their story with us—cheers to the next 25 years!