Daddy Givebucks: Lessons Learned When Warren Buffett Hands You $1 Billion

With $1 billion grants from their father and advice on how their foundations should manage them, billionaire-investor Warren Buffett's three adult children are adjusting to running high-dollar philanthropic organizations.

Full-text article by Jeff Bailey is available via Fast Company, September 2009.

Fundraisers’ outlook remains gloomy

The current fundraising mood in the U.S. is depressed, with professional fundraisers reporting their lowest levels of optimism in over a decade, a new report says.

Full-text post is available via Philanthropy Journal 8.10.09.

Recession taking a toll on philanthropy, too

We may be hearing lots of gloomy news about how companies in the auto and other industries have downsized or gone bankrupt in the United States, but one of the less publicised aspects of the impact of the economic recession is how it has affected non-profit foundations and museums in America.

Full text post is available via The Nation, 8.23.09.

Charitable giving declines in poor economy (8/6/09)

John Connell, chief financial officer with the Stern Center for Language and Learning, located on Allen Brook Lane in Williston, said foundation endowments have disappeared and grants have been cancelled.

“It’s been a difficult year for everyone,” Connell said. “We’re very much going to have to ride out the funding lull.”

Full text article by Tim Simard is available via The Williston Observer, 8.6.09.

Foundation Endowments Dipped in 2008, but Giving Rose

Grant makers’ endowments plunged by 26 percent last year as the stock market fell to levels not seen in years, says a new report from the Commonfund Institute.

Full-text article by Caroline Preston is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 6.25.09. [Subscription required.]

Foundations Plan to Shrink Grants

The number and size of foundation grants will likely decrease this year, and grants for upstart organizations will be hard to come by, according to a study by the Foundation Center.

The report Foundations Address the Impact of the Economic Crisis states that close to two-thirds of foundations expect to reduce the number and/or the size of grants they award in 2009.

Foundation of The Times Suspends Gift Program

The New York Times Company Foundation announced it was suspending its grant-making and matching gift program two days after the company reported a $74.5 million loss in the first quarter of 2009.

Full-text article by Stephanie Strom published via The New York Times, 4.23.09.

Foundation Adapts to Challenging Economy (University of Connecticut)

Faced with dramatic declines in investment markets, the UConn Foundation has taken steps to both stabilize its revenue sources and at the same time provide predictable spending allocations to the Schools and Colleges. One is to enact a gift fee on all new gifts, effective Feb. 1. Another involves changing how the endowment management fee is assessed.

Full-text press release is available via The University of Connecticut website, 3.30.09.

Senators Propose Measure to Encourage Foundations to Give More

A new bill pending in the Senate is designed to simplify the tax code for private foundations and encourage them to give more grants to charity. The bill, S 676, would change the way foundations pay excise tax on their net investment income.

Full-text article by Ian Wilhelm and Grant Williams is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 3.25.09.

IRS Counts 1.2 Million Charities and Foundations

The number of charities and private foundations registered with the Internal Revenue Service has increased by more than 5 percent in each of the past two years, according to figures released by the tax agency, and reached a total of nearly 1.2 million last year.

Full-text article by Grant Williams is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 3.24.09.

As Detroit Struggles, Foundations Shift Mission

The long economic decline of Detroit has prompted foundations in the region to change how they operate. Faced with sharply declining resources and exploding need, they are being forced to pick winners and losers, engaging in what Larry M. Gant, a professor of social work at the University of Michigan, calls “triage.”

Full-text article by Stephanie Strom is available via The New York Times, 3.21.09.

UBS Preps Philanthropic Foundation Program

UBS is rolling out a private foundation services program, in partnership with Foundation Source, to provide a more simple way for clients to manage their private foundations.

The program, set to launch the week of April 11, tracks grants and gives access to the performance of charities that clients support.

Full-text article is available via Asset Management, 3.19.09. [Subscription required.]

America's Biggest Foundations Won't Increase Their Giving in 2009, Says a New Report

In the wake of the tumbling stock market and heavy asset losses suffered by virtually all the nation's wealthiest foundations, only two have said they plan to increase their giving this year, according to a new advisory report by the Foundation Center, in New York.

Full-text article by Marty Michaels is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 3.9.09. [Subscription required.]

Foundations Are Feeling the Pinch

Foundations across the country, including more than a half-dozen of the largest grant makers in Massachusetts, say they are giving less this year after suffering a steep drop in investments last year.

Full-text article by Todd Wallack is available via The Boston Globe, 3.3.09.

Foundations Help Nonprofits Hurt in Madoff Affair

Nonprofits that are struggling because their donors lost money with Bernard Madoff are getting a bailout - but not from the government. Richer foundations are stepping in to help.

Full-text article by Rachel Beck is available via U.S. News & World Report, 1.6.09.

Foundations Take Active Role On Health Policy

Frustrated that years of financing studies and demonstration projects have not translated into widespread improvement in medicine, California philanthropic foundations and think tanks are shedding their traditionally detached stances to crusade for healthcare reform in the state Capitol and in Congress.

Full-text article by Jordan Rau is available via the Los Angeles Times, 1.5.09.

Congress Targets Philanthropy

Like divining rods, Members of Congress are always alert to fresh sources of money, which once discovered they will spend. California Democratic Congressman Xavier Becerra thinks he's discovered a new source of political treasure: the money inside private and community foundations.

Full-text article is available via the Wall Street Journal, 12.24.08.

Charities, Foundations, Elected Officials Launch New Collaborative to Ensure Philanthropy Can Address Growing, Unmet Needs of U.S. Communities

With severe economic pressure mounting on all sectors of the economy, a broad-cross section of interests announced today they have formed The Philanthropic Collaborative (TPC). The organization's mission is to educate federal and state policymakers about the critical benefits of philanthropic dollars in communities across the nation, and to work with policymakers to ensure this much-needed source of funding is not restricted by new federal economic policies.

TPC released a study prepared by economist Robert Shapiro, a former top Clinton Administration economic official. The study demonstrates that, for every dollar foundations spend, more than $8 is generated in local and national economic benefits.

For more information please visit TPC's website, The Philanthropy Collaborative.

Bequests, Celebrities, Foundations, and the Economy: a Conference Notebook From National Research Meeting

Researchers offered findings on foundations, corporate giving, and trends in bequests at national meeting for the Association for Research in Nonprofit Organization and Voluntary Action in Philadelphia.

Full-text article by Debra Blum is available via the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 11.23.08. [Subscription required.]

Not Many Speak Their Mind to Gates Foundation

With a $38 billion endowment that exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of most countries it helps — and another $30 billion pledged by investor Warren Buffett — the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has come to dominate the philanthropic world in the same way Microsoft towered over the software landscape.

But philanthropy experts and even some foundation leaders are uneasy with all the adulation.

Full-text article by Sandi Doughton is available via the Seattle Times, 8.3.08.

Noted philanthropist to close his foundation in St. Petersburg, FL.

After a five-year run, philanthropist Kiran Patel is closing the doors on his public Foundation for Global Understanding and returning to the managed health care business.

Patel said he will continue his support of health, education and cultural programs through a private foundation of the same name.

But he said he no longer wants to be involved in fundraising or answer to a board of directors.

"I like to be hands on," he said.

Patel is one of the Bay area's most noted philanthropists. He donated $18.5-million to the University of South Florida to establish the Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions.

Full-text article by Janet Zink is available via the St. Petersburg Times, 1.8.08.

Can Foundations Take the Long View Again?

As business leaders have invested their private wealth in philanthropy, the metrics used in the for-profit and not-for-profit world have become the same. A group of foundation leaders is challenging using such a business approach in the philanthropic sector.

Full-text article by Denise Caruso is available via the New York Times, 1.6.08.

Foundations align investments with their charitable goals

In a sharp break from past practice, major charitable foundations are initiating or strengthening efforts to harmonize the social and environmental effect of their endowment investments with their philanthropic goals.

Full-text article by Charles Piller is available via the Los Angeles Times, 12.29.07.

How Charities Can Make Themselves More Open

This article suggests that charities and foundations should make their operations more transparent by providing the public with more detailed information -- everything from board members and their bios to an open discussion about problems they've encountered while trying to achieve their goals. Charities should also explain to donors how they measure their effectiveness and report their findings to the public.

The full-text article by Sally Beatty is available via The Wall Street Journal, 12.10.2007.

Article includes graphics and charts of U.S. charitable giving and a podcast discussing the self-assessments some big charities and foundations have begun issuing to report publicly on the effectiveness of their programs.