Comparison · 14 material differences
Family Firm Institute (FFI) vs Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center
This comparison was generated on request from the records. It carries no editorial verdict and is not indexed. The published comparisons are listed on the compare page.
Read down each column for one organization, across a row for the difference. A bronze mark at the left of a cell means the organizations differ on that row. A dash or “not published” means the organization does not disclose the fact — it is not a zero.
Verified September 2026
Professional association
Verified September 2026 Family Firm Institute (FFI)
Advisers, consultants, educators and researchers who serve family enterprises — plus family enterprise members themselves, who join at the same individual rate
Family-business organization
Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center
Middle-market, multigenerational family businesses and the whole family around them — including family members who do not work in the business, in-laws, and non-family executives
What the records say
- Minimum age — Family Firm Institute (FFI): No published minimum age; Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center: The Next Generation Leadership Institute is designed for 25 to 50 year-olds set to assume leadership positions in their family business.
- Accredited-investor status — Family Firm Institute (FFI): Not required for membership; FFI's Global Education Network certificates in Family Business Advising and Family Wealth Advising are optional and priced separately; Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center: No published accredited-investor status.
- Geographic restriction — Family Firm Institute (FFI): No published geographic restriction; Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center: Programmes are delivered in person at Loyola's Water Tower Campus in Chicago, which effectively limits membership to the Chicago region.
- Annual dues — Family Firm Institute (FFI): $975 a year; Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center: $7,500 a year.
Side by side
| Family Firm Institute (FFI) | Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center | |
|---|---|---|
| Profile | ||
| Type | Professional association | Family-business organization |
| Founded | 1986 (FFI's history page states the organisation was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1986 with 22 founding members. It is now headquartered in Boston.) | 1990 (Loyola's own news release announcing the current director states the Center was "Founded in 1990". The Center's Our Story page describes it as one of the first US communities formed to research and support family business, started by Loyola faculty and staff from the schools of business, social work and law.) |
| Headquarters | Boston, United States | Chicago, United States |
| Geographic footprint | Global membership; the annual Global Conference moves between cities and the 2026 edition is scheduled for New York | Chicago and the surrounding Midwest; programmes run at Loyola's Water Tower Campus at 820 N. Michigan Avenue |
| Members | Could not be independently verified — secondary sources describe "nearly 2,000 individuals and organizations from more than 80 countries", but FFI's own about, membership and contact pages do not publish a member or country count. | Not publicly disclosed |
| Chapters | FFI has no chapters. It organises members through virtual study groups, the Global Education Network and the annual conference. | A single university-based centre with no chapters. |
| Primary audience | Advisers, consultants, educators and researchers who serve family enterprises — plus family enterprise members themselves, who join at the same individual rate | Middle-market, multigenerational family businesses and the whole family around them — including family members who do not work in the business, in-laws, and non-family executives |
| Typical member | The core membership is professional: lawyers, accountants, wealth managers, family business consultants, psychologists and academics working with family firms and family wealth. FFI also admits family enterprise members, educators and researchers, and students, and sells organisational memberships to advisory firms, universities and associations priced by headcount. | The Center describes working with middle-market, multigenerational family businesses and serving "the whole family, both inside and outside the business". Membership is bought by the family business and extends to family members regardless of whether they hold a role in the company; peer groups separately admit non-family CEOs, CHROs, CFOs and female board directors. |
| Qualification | ||
| Minimum age | No published minimum age | The Next Generation Leadership Institute is designed for 25 to 50 year-olds set to assume leadership positions in their family businessApplies to that programme, not to membership. Enrolment is open to members and non-members.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Accredited-investor status | Not required for membership; FFI's Global Education Network certificates in Family Business Advising and Family Wealth Advising are optional and priced separatelyverified September 2026 · source ↗ | No published accredited-investor status |
| Geographic restriction | No published geographic restriction | Programmes are delivered in person at Loyola's Water Tower Campus in Chicago, which effectively limits membership to the Chicago regionThe Family Office peer group is mostly virtual; the Stewardship Institute is fully in person.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Invitation required | No | No |
| Sponsor required | No | No |
| Application process | Applicants select a membership category on FFI's membership page and pay the published rate. There is no published sponsorship, interview or committee stage. Organisational memberships are bought by the firm, institution or association and cover a stated number of named people. | Family businesses apply for membership through the Center's membership pages and pay the annual fee, after which members take part in an annual goal-setting meeting with Center staff. Peer group placement is arranged separately by the Center, which matches participants by role and life stage and keeps relatives from the same business apart. The two institutes enrol by cohort and are open to non-members as well; the Next Generation Leadership Institute takes a $1,000 non-refundable deposit to hold a place and runs information sessions before each intake. |
| Selectivity | Not publicly disclosed — FFI describes membership categories and prices but no screening or acceptance process. | Not publicly disclosed — no acceptance rate or screening criteria are published, though peer group placement is curated by staff. |
| Cost | ||
| Annual dues | $975 a yearIndividual membership — Professional and Family Enterprise members each pay this rate.verified September 2026 · source ↗ | $7,500 a yearAnnual membership is $7,500 per family business and covers the whole family. Includes a 15% discount on Loyola's Executive and Professional Education open-enrolment courses.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Initiation fee | Dues are fully published by category. Organisational members receive 15% off Global Conference registration; conference fees themselves are separate from dues. | No initiation fee is published.verified September 2026 |
| Programme fee | Not publicly disclosed — the FFI Global Education Network certificate fees are not published on the membership page.verified September 2026 | $3,500–5,000 a yearPeer groups: $3,500 a year for Center members, $5,000 for non-members. The Family Office group is free to members and $1,500 for non-members; CFO Roundtables are free.verified September 2026 · source ↗ |
| Membership term | Annual | Annual |
| Structure | ||
| Meeting frequency | Annual Global Conference plus virtual study groups and learning sessions through the year | Peer groups meet bimonthly for half-day sessions (the Family Office group quarterly); institute cohorts meet monthly or six times over 18 months; conferences, webinars and social events run through the year |
| Peer forums | Virtual study groups organised by topic; no confidential peer-forum structure | Eight peer groups of roughly five to twelve participants, segmented by role and stage: NowGen (family C-suite), NextGen (family members outside the C-suite), Legacy (owners retiring within five years), Family Council (family members not in daily operations), Family and Shareholder Relations / Family Office, Non-Family CEOs, Chief Human Resource Officers and Female Board Directors, plus sponsored CFO Roundtables. Most groups include two one-on-one coaching sessions a year. |
| Confidentiality | Not publicly disclosed | The Center names confidentiality and non-solicitation among its founding values, states that all groups maintain strict confidentiality, and never places family members from the same business in the same group. |
| Time commitment | Not documented | Peer groups: a half-day every two months. Next Generation Leadership Institute: 18 months, a two-day opening retreat plus 17 day-long cohort meetings and 15 coaching sessions. Stewardship Institute: 18 months, six meetings of a day and a half. |
| Organized as | Event-focused, Virtual, Cohort-based | Forum-based, Cohort-based, Event-focused |
| Confidential peer forums | Partial | Yes |
| Local chapters | No | No |
| Virtual membership | Yes | Partial |
| Online community | Yes | Partial |
| Member directory | Yes | Not documented |
| Events | Yes | Yes |
| Programming | ||
| Educational programming | Yes | Yes |
| Leadership development | Yes | Yes |
| Retreats | No | Yes |
| Travel | No | No |
| Family programming | Partial | Yes |
| Spouse and partner programming | No | Yes |
| Next-generation programming | Not documented | Yes |
| Investment discussions | Partial | Partial |
| Investment opportunities | No | No |
| Philanthropic component | No | No |
| Networking emphasis | Medium | Medium |
| Social emphasis | Low | Medium |
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Last verified: not yet reviewed
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Sources
Drawn from the sources listed on each page: Family Firm Institute (FFI) · Loyola University Chicago Family Business Center