Newsletters
Source Data: The 990 PF
Where Does Foundation Financial Research Get Data Foundations are required to file a form called the 990 PF annually with the IRS. These forms are open to public inspection (see image below, top right, in red highlight under "2019"). Foundation Financial Research has digitized the data in these forms for all foundations with over $1 million in assets (over 40,000 … [Read more...] about Source Data: The 990 PF
FoundationMark Adds Peer Group Analysis
FoundationMark, has recently rolled out a new feature - peer group analysis. Foundations have been badly underserved in terms of available financial benchmarking resources. The few publications available tend to either 1) focus on only the largest foundations, 2) be buried in academic papers, or 3) report episodic survey results, all of which make it difficult to make … [Read more...] about FoundationMark Adds Peer Group Analysis
Record Giving, Record Asset Levels
Higher Giving, Higher Assets The graph and table below show current estimated foundation assets grew to $1.2 trillion at the end of 2020. The FoundationMark assumptions underlying the asset level are shown at right, including a giving level of $88 billion, up about 7% from 2019. We recognize that giving may have been higher as foundations may have responded to the … [Read more...] about Record Giving, Record Asset Levels
How Much do Foundations Give Per Year?
Measuring Giving in Dollars and as a Percent of Assets Examining foundation giving is best approached from two perspectives, first, in terms of actual dollars distributed by foundations each year, and secondly as a percentage of assets. Below we provide answers to both. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate the relationship between asset levels and giving, as well as provide … [Read more...] about How Much do Foundations Give Per Year?
Asset Allocation Doesn’t Change Much Even in Crises
The chart above shows that foundation asset allocation hasn't varied much year to year. Two long term trends have been a reduction in cash and fixed income holdings and an increase in "Investments - Other". The category "Investments - Other" is a specific line on the foundation's annual filing. The underlying assets may include alternative assets such as private equity and … [Read more...] about Asset Allocation Doesn’t Change Much Even in Crises