The vast majority of U.S. grantmaking foundations are required by law to distribute 5 percent of their investment assets annually for charitable purposes. While this requirement is commonly known, it is often not well understood.
To provide a more informed perspective on how foundation payout works, Understanding and Benchmarking Foundation Payout defines and demystifies the concept of payout while addressing common misperceptions. The report addresses specific questions such as: What constitutes payout? How is the payout rate calculated? Why do foundation payout rates differ? It also delivers first-ever trend information detailing the payout practices of the largest U.S. foundations.
Intended for policymakers, advocates, journalists, researchers, and the general public, this brief serves as a key resource for understanding payout and as an unbiased source of facts on actual practice.
Among key findings from the new report:
Most large endowed independent foundations paid out at or above the 5 percent required payout level during the period 2007 to 2009
Nearly one-in-five endowed foundations had payout rates at or above 10 percent
Few operating characteristics beyond endowment size were associated with consistently higher or lower payout rate practices, and variation was modest
In general, as endowment size increased, payout rates tended to decrease.
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Title: Understanding and Benchmarking Foundation Payout
Publication date 2012-09-28
Publication Year 2012
Authors
Loren Renz
Copyright holder(s)
Foundation Center
Geographical Focus
North America / United States
Keywords
foundations
, net assets
, assets
, foundation center
, independent foundations
Document type
Report/Whitepaper
Language
English
URL: http://foundationcenter.issuelab.org/resource/understanding-and-benchmarking-foundation-payout.html
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