All data used in rankings and calculations is provided by FoundationMark and FoundationIQ and reflects foundations with over $1 million in assets.
Overall Ranking by State
- New York foundations reported total assets of $181.1 billion, ranking 1st among states.
- New York foundations 5 year total asset growth of 6.0%, ranked 14th.
- The average 5 year annualized return of New York foundations for the period ended December 31, 2017 was 8.2%, 24th place.
Asset Development
- Since 2013 New York foundations assets have increased by $46.0 billion from $135.1 billion to $181.1 billion.
- New York’s growth rate (blue hashed line) of 6.0% was much faster than the overall foundation universe growth rate (yellow hashed line) of 5.4%.
Investment Performance
- New York foundations estimated median performance for the 1-yr, 3-yr, and 5-yr periods ended Dec 31, 2017 was 14.2%, 6.5%, and 8.2% respectively.
- The average 5 year annualized return of New York foundations for the period ended December 31, 2017 was 8.2%, slightly ahead of the national average.
Disclosed Investment Expenses
- New York foundations reported $770.7 million in disclosed investment expenses for the most recent year.
- Median investment expenses for New York foundations of 61 basis points were 4 basis points lower than the national median of 65 basis points.
As the chart below shows, the highest percentage of New York foundations disclosed less than 25 basis points of investment expenses.
Basis Points (bps): Investment fees are usually quoted as a percentage of assets. For example an investment manager may charge a 0.75% fee to manage the money that you have with the firm. The term ‘basis point’ is an easier way to say small numbers by moving the decimal point two places to the right. so 0.75% = 75 basis points, for the simple reason it is easier to say out loud “seventy five basis points” than “zero point seven five percent”.
Foundations by Portfolio Strategy
FoundationMark Portfolio Strategies
- 37% of New York foundations were categorized as Capital Appreciation by FoundationMark, in line with the national average.
- 19% of New York foundations had a Balanced strategy, a little lower than the national average.
- 25% of New York foundations were categorized as ‘Investments – Other’, a little lower than the national average.
- 19% of New York foundations had a Capital Preservation strategy, 4% higher than the national average.
Foundations by Asset Level
There are close to 4,700 New York foundations with assets in excess of $1 million.
- New York has 22 of the top 100 foundation by asset size in the US.
- Over 690 of New York foundations have assets of over $25 million.
Top 10 Foundations by Assets
- New York is home to many of the largest foundations in the country, including 5 FoundationMark 15 members, the Ford, Bloomberg, Mellon, Helmsley, and Rockefeller Foundations.
Foundations by County and City
Incoming Contributions
- New York foundations received $9.6 billion in incoming contributions in the most recent year, and $42.3 billion cumulatively over the past 5 years, the most of all states.
Grants, Gifts and Operating Expenses
- New York foundations paid $12.6 billion in grants, gifts, and operating expenses in the most recent year, and $57.8 billion cumulatively over the past 5 years, largest in dollar terms.
- Giving growth of New York foundations was 5.5% versus the national pace of 6.2%, bottom half among all states over the period.
If you would like to learn more about the over 4,710 foundations in New York with assets over $1 million, or the other 40,000 foundations outside of New York that we follow, including performance and expense data, please visit our affiliated companies: