If 99% of foundations act in a truly charitable fashion, that would imply that about 500 foundations in our universe have made choices that might seem odd, or self serving.
In this section we point out a few examples that seem incongruous with core philanthropic principles.
CHRISTIAN OLSEN PRIVATE FOUNDATION
| Location | Assets | Giving | Date | Link to Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
North Palm Beach, FL |
$9 million |
$638 thousand |
Sep 2021 |
What are the issues?
- The sole trustee, Joseph Fleming, was paid $96,000 in trustee compensation
- The foundation paid $104,000 to Fleming and Fleming, Joseph Fleming’s law firm, for legal services.
- Combined the foundation paid $200,000 to Joseph Fleming and his firm, while disbursing $304,000 to charity.
- The foundation wrote about 60 checks to operating charities. If you average the donations divided by number of checks, it is about $5,000 per charity. If you average Joseph Fleming and his law firms compensation per check, it comes to about $3,300 per check written.
WILLIAM T MORRIS FOUNDATION
| Location | Assets | Giving | Date | Link to Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Naples, FL |
$41 million |
$1.5 million |
Jun 2020 |
What are the issues?
- The foundation paid its president, B.A. August, $498,000 in compensation (up form $489,000 the previous year) as well as $56,000 in benefits for the year. In the past 4 years, total compensation amounts to about $2 million.
- The foundation made $1.97 million in charitable donation to about 60 operating charities, essentially the same charities as in previous years.
- So the president’s compensation package was over 25% of the charitable disbursements.