Foundations

While their assets, gifts and grants all grew in 2010 in the wake of the recession, community foundations are walking a fine line between focusing on immediate and long-term needs, a new study says.

Assets at over 250 community foundations participating in the annual survey by the Columbus Foundation grew 13 percent on average in 2010, compared to a decline of 12 percent in 2009.

Yet while nearly one-third of community foundations increased their overall operating expenses by 19 percent on average, roughly one-fourth reduced their expenses by 20 percent on average.

Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support explicitly benefiting Native Americans declined from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of total foundation giving. According to Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples, released by Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) and the Foundation Center, total grant dollars targeting Native Americans dropped 30.8 percent in the latest year, compared to a 12.4 percent overall downturn in foundation giving.

The economy … well … sucks at the moment! But does that really mean nobody is giving? Nope! Fundraising is alive and well and even thriving. I have 10 tips to help you get your share of the money that's going around.

French universities, long entirely dependent on the state for their finances, have set up 39 private foundations to receive donations, the country’s higher education minister, Valérie Pécresse, announced Wednesday.

The initiative, made possible by a change to French law in 2007 giving universities more autonomy, is intended to allow donations from alumni and private individuals as well as from businesses. Nearly half the 83 universities have already set up foundations or partnerships, and an additional 60 are expected to be announced in the coming months.

Grants by the biggest U.S. foundations to support social justice totaled $3.1 billion in 2009 and accounted for more than 14 percent of their grant dollars, virtually flat compared to 2008, and 11 percent of their grants, a new report says.

Forty-seven percent of social-justice grant dollars supported international activities, says Key Facts on Social Justice Grantmaking, a report by the Foundation Center.

How could philanthropy do a better job of meeting today’s challenges? By ditching the jargon, getting over its aversion to paying for fund-raising costs, and tackling the kinds of goals that capture people’s imaginations, according to speakers at today’s kick-off of the annual Council on Foundations meeting in Philadelphia.

The country's more than 76,000 grantmaking foundations gave an estimated $45.7 billion in 2010, virtually unchanged from 2009. According to Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates (2011 Edition), released today by the Foundation Center, 2010 giving remained just 2.1 percent below the record high of $46.8 billion awarded by foundations in 2008, despite the fact that foundation assets were still close to 10 percent below their 2007 peak.

Boards of directors for the Greater Morgantown Community Trust (GMCT) and The Community Foundation of North Central West Virginia (CFNCWV) have voted to combine the two charitable, nonprofit foundations into a larger, more effective organization to be named "Your Community Foundation."

The merged foundations will manage assets and pledged assets of more than $7 million and administer more than 100 endowment funds across the north-central counties of the state.

Members of foundation boards are predominantly white, male and over age 50, and they do not receive compensation for their board work, a new survey says.

Eighty-five percent of board members at over 500 foundations responding to a survey by the Council on Foundations are white, 62 percent are male, and 74 percent are over age 50, with 19 percent age 40 to 49.

At family foundations, 16 percent of board members are under age 40, representing the largest share of board members that age among all foundations, says the survey.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave out far less money in 2010 than anticipated because staff members were given the option of distributing some of their grant dollars in later years, according to the fund’s chief executive, Jeffrey Raikes.

The world’s largest philanthropy donated $2.6-billion last year, compared with $3-billion in 2009, because program officers decided to hold off on distributing about $500-million in grants. That money is now available for 2011.