March 2009
Has Private Grant Funding Disappeared until the Economy Improves?
I know that there is a lot of ‘doom and gloom’ currently being spread around about foundation giving going away as a result of the current economic downturn. Here are some facts that I hope will provide you with a little different perspective on these times:
The fact remains that to legally remain a foundation, foundations must give. The IRS requires U.S. foundations to give a minimum of 5% of their endowment value each year. If they don’t, they incur significant tax penalties and could lose their legal foundation status. So you can expect that foundations will continue to give, but their total giving may be less than in the past. (It’s important to note that some of the foundations we checked in with in preparing this article are planning to give more than last year in response to the increased need by nonprofit organizations. The 5% rule is a minimum, not a maximum.)
We expect the change in foundation giving during the economic downturn to affect your nonprofit or agency development activities in several ways:
- The competition will likely get stiffer for existing funds;
- Foundations are focusing their giving on their very highest priorities in order to still have an impact with their funds; and
- Development professionals will find they’ll need to piece together project funding with a few more applications, using smaller amounts from a greater variety of sources (where they used to be able to obtain larger chunks of money from fewer grantmakers).
We contacted a number of private foundations in the Pacific Northwest to see how their giving will be affected by the current economic challenges. Here’s an overview of their responses (please note: any emphasis is ours):
Paul G Allen Family Foundation - View Response
http://www.pgafamilyfoundation.org/
Tel: 206.342.2030
Bullitt Foundation - View Response
http://www.bullitt.org/
206-343-0807
Ben B. Cheney Foundation - View Response
http://www.benbcheneyfoundation.org/
253-572-2442
Ford Family Foundation - View Response
http://www.tfff.org/main/GrantPrograms/tabid/63/Default.aspx
541. 957-5574
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - View Response
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/annual-letter/Pages/2009-economic-crisis.aspx
206.709.3100
Kinsman Foundation - View Response
http://www.kinsmanfoundation.org
503.654.1668
Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation - View Response
http://www.kongsgaard-goldman.org/who/message
206.448.1874
Charlotte Y. Martin Foundation - View Response
http://www.charlottemartin.org/index.htm
info@charlottemartin.org
Meyer Memorial Trust - View Response
http://www.mmt.org/
503.228.5512
M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust - View Response
http://www.murdock-trust.org/
(360) 694-8415
Norcliffe Foundation - View Response
http://www.thenorcliffefoundation.com/index.html
206.682-4820
Rasmuson Foundation - View Response
http://www.rasmuson.org
(907) 297-2700
Wilburforce Foundation - View Response
http://www.wilburforce.org/
206-632-2325
The Funding Exchange will continue to place a high priority on services to assist and train organizations and agencies that helps them strengthen themselves internally and assists them to make wise choices to ensure they can continue to do their good work. Our services are modularized so you use only what you need when you need it without the worry of committing to long-term services or expense.
We have a number of training opportunities that can help you prepare your staff to effectively meet your organization’s funding needs:
- Sustainable Pathways: Developing a Financially Healthy Organization is a 3-day training that guides a 1-3 person team from your organization through an analysis of your current income streams. You’ll learn what a healthy income balance looks like and create a plan to balance your fundraising efforts over the next 18-24 months. At the end of the class, you’ll have a written fundraising plan in hand, complete with a timeline/calendar and tasks assigned to specific people, ready to present to your Board of Directors for approval. This training is available now in a face-to-face class, and will soon be available in webinar format. Contact us to be placed on a webinar request list for this training.
- Grantwriting: We offer two different trainings – A 2-day Grantwriting Overview for those with some grantwriting experience or a limited time to attend class, and a 5-day Grantwriting Intensive. The Intensive is a much smaller class (maximum of 12 students as opposed to 25 in the Overview), offers more detail and hands-on practice in preparing and writing proposals. Students in the Grantwriting Intensive choose a foundation and write a proposal as their class project during the week. They end the class with a written foundation proposal ready to submit to the funder. This is the best class to take if you have little grantwriting mentoring available to you in your place of work, need to produce effective proposals quickly, and want to spend your money strengthening your organization and produce a funding proposal at the same time.
- The Art of Grantwriting, The Funding Exchange’s ninth edition of their valuable grantwriting handbook, is in the final editing stages and available for preorder now. The handbook is included in the Grantwriting Intensive course and available for purchase separately at the Grantwriting Overview course.
In addition to our trainings and workshops, we offer planning and consulting, research, writing evaluation, and individual services for when you lack the time or personnel to complete your development work internally. Give me a call at (907) 451-0885 to discuss your organizational needs and see how The Funding Exchange can assist you.
Paul G Allen Family Foundation
http://www.pgafamilyfoundation.org/
Tel: 206.342.2030
(Taken from a mailing to nonprofit members)
Response to the Current Economic Crisis:
During times of uncertainty, we believe it is important to stay true to our mission. Our long-term goal is to transform lives and strengthen communities by increasing opportunities for participation in the arts and youth development programs, responding to the needs of vulnerable populations, and applying new science and technology to global challenges. We also believe that the acute, emerging needs resulting from the economic downturn require our response. This response comes at a time when the Foundation's own resources are more limited.
We wanted to take a moment to share with you changes we’ve made to strengthen our work, hone our focus, and ensure the continued vitality of our longstanding partners. During the past few months, we have reviewed our funding priorities, proposal guidelines, and grantmaking processes. We want to ensure that we are positioned to leverage every available dollar to have the greatest possible impact. In some areas we have made adjustments to our grantmaking program to broaden our giving. In others, we have narrowed our focus to help sustain our nonprofit partners. We have also changed our application process. In selected program areas we will continue to accept unsolicited letters of inquiry, in others we will solicit proposals by invitation. And we have instituted a single proposal deadline this year.
In making these changes, we were guided by two primary principles: increasing support to low-income populations, especially those affected by the economic downturn, and avoiding destabilization of organizations with which we have long-term funding relationships. Recent Foundation grants reflecting those beliefs include $100,000 to Food Lifeline to create a revolving food purchase program for member food banks. The program will enable Food Lifeline to procure bulk quantities of fresh produce, proteins, and other high-demand items. The Foundation also made a $300,000 grant to Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia to help low-income families meet their immediate financial needs by providing access to affordable financial services such as car loans, emergency loans, and checking accounts.
Bullitt Foundation
http://www.bullitt.org/
206-343-0807
(edited for brevity)
Open letter from Northwest Environmental Funders
Dear friends and colleagues:
Organizations like yours are our most important partners in efforts to protect and preserve our environment. Over the past few years, we have collectively defended bedrock environmental policies, forged relationships with unexpected allies, informed and inspired a new generation of activists, and proposed solutions to some of the vexing problems we face. In part because of these efforts, we now have the best opportunity in over a decade to make significant conservation gains. However, we also will need to partner through one of the most challenging situations in recent memory.
Unfortunately, the rapid and significant decline of our economy now presents us all with unprecedented challenges…
…The impacts of this economic climate will be broad and deep, and the specific experiences of funders and the organizations they support will vary markedly.
What does this mean for your organization?
We can’t say for certain how many groups will face a significant crisis, but it’s an unfortunate fact that some organizations will not survive.
We also know that planning pays off. Recent experience shows us that organizations that act decisively to address and adjust their financial positions are the ones that suffer least.
For example, the National Center for Charitable Statistics reports that the 2001 recession led to a decline in real contributions (adjusted for inflation) to environmental organizations that did not fully rebound until 2004. During that time, many organizations trimmed expenses, cut staff, tapped reserve funds, and/or eliminated programs. Some organizations merged.
The current recession, longer and more severe than the last, will cut deeper. Financial statements reviewed last year and early this year already show that some are experiencing dwindling cash reserves, meager unrestricted fund balances, and lower-than-budgeted revenue tallies. Other organizations are submitting organizational budgets that rely on increased giving from individuals and foundations to cover program expenses, anticipated support that may be based more on hope than sound planning.
We know that many organizations have already taken steps to respond to the real or potential impacts of current economic conditions.
This is not a time to be complacent or spontaneous. A plan is essential for every organization, not just those feeling the impacts today. We urge you to question previous assumptions you have made in your 2009 budgets and to undertake rigorous contingency planning.
Besides planning, communication will be an essential step. We recommend that you contact every significant donor upon whose support you depend—individual, corporate, or foundation—to discuss with them their situation and the likelihood of renewed funding and at what level. This helps keep your supporters informed about the steps you are taking and will allow you to make informed and timely decisions based on the information that you gather.
We encourage you to take such steps now to avoid more severe issues later this year. As we all face these issues, we believe we can help each other. Call us if we can help with:
- Thinking through budgeting, staffing, program or other issues. The more we know about your needs, the better able we may be to help you.
- Sorting out projects or programs that make sense in this financial climate compared to what you described in your grant proposals. We can consider changes to the proposed activities if alternatives produce outcomes to which we’ve agreed.
Our intent is to offer proactive advice without becoming unnecessarily alarmist.
We encourage you to share this letter with your boards. We hope this inspires a robust conversation between the staff and board that helps you plan--and act--to assure the viability of your organization and its mission.
See here for a list of helpful resources and articles (PDF) provided by the Foundation Center, whose mission is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about U.S. philanthropy.
We also recommend reading Managing in Hard Times, available at http://www.icl.org/toolkits/hard-times.php. This free publication provides best practices and tools for managers of environmental and conservation nonprofits in challenging economic times. Workbook tools include step-by-step instructions to assess your financial situation, sample contingency budgets, and more. The Environmental Support Center and Institute for Conservation Leadership originally created this resource in 2003 with the generous support of the Beldon Fund, The McKnight Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, and The Moriah Fund. It remains highly relevant to managers today.
We appreciate all of the great programmatic work that you’ve done through the years. We send this letter because we are your partners and collaborators. Your success is our success. We look forward to hearing what steps you’ve taken to ensure that your organization is sustainable and effective for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Fred Munson, Executive Director
444S Foundation
Nick Hardigg, Executive Director
Alaska Conservation Foundation
Fred Kiga
Vice President, State & Local Government Relations and Global Corporate Citizenship
The Boeing Company
Ann Krumboltz, Executive Director
Brainerd Foundation
Denis Hayes, Executive Director
Bullitt Foundation
Lisa Jaguzny, Executive Director
Campion Foundation
Dorene Schiro, Trustee
The Endurance Fund
Kay Treakle, Executive Director
Harder Foundation
Martha Kongsgaard, President
Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation
Julia Kittross, Executive Director
Laird Norton Family Foundation
Sybil Ackerman, Executive Director
Lazar Foundation
David S Mann, President
Northwest Fund for the Environment
Patty Ryan, Grant Committee Chair
Sustainable Path Foundation
Richard Woo, Executive Director
The Russell Family Foundation
Tim Greyhavens, Executive Director
Wilburforce Foundation
Ben B. Cheney Foundation
http://www.benbcheneyfoundation.org/
253-572-2442
A phone call to Ben B. Cheney Foundation indicates they have been conducting small, focused roundtable discussions locally. Their giving is very limited geographically, and they expect their giving to decline as a result of the economic climate.
Ford Family Foundation
http://www.tfff.org/main/GrantPrograms/tabid/63/Default.aspx
541. 957-5574
Message from Norm Smith, President of The Ford Family Foundation
All of us at the Foundation know and feel the pressures and concerns caused by the worldwide, financial melt down. This is a time of great challenge and uncertainty for our communities, which face a steadily increasing demand for critical human services at the exact time that traditional resources evaporate.
The foundation world is struggling to respond while also facing declining assets. At The Ford Family Foundation, we remain committed to our mission of successful citizens and vital rural communities. We are buoyed by the spirit of resilience, innovation and compassion that we see in the rural communities we serve.
Here is my assessment late in the first quarter of 2009 of our circumstances and where we think we are headed to help those we serve:
- 2009 is no longer the year of growth that we were preparing for this time last year but there is still lots happening.
- The Foundation will contribute more than $25 million in 2009 through our Scholarship Programs, the Ford Institute for Community Building and through proactive and responsive grants. We will exceed our IRS required distribution this year by over $2 million.
- Our five Scholarship Programs will invest $10 million in more than 1100 undergraduate and graduate scholarship recipients and related support programs.
- The Ford Institute will present its Programs in 56 communities from Brookings to Wallowa and will continue to support effective leaders and non-profit organizations through technical assistance grants, the Select Books Program and via learning conferences.
- Our Grants Program has already committed $8.5 million in 2009 to worthwhile community-driven projects. These commitments, most made in an earlier economic environment, have left few remaining funds for more new projects.
- In 2009, the Grants Program will administer a proactive, invitation-only granting process, designed to support key services in the Foundation’s Core Counties (Douglas, Coos and Siskiyou). Once these funds have been distributed, the Grants Program will continue to review proposals on a rolling basis and may be able to respond to small, urgent requests but the competition for funds will be high.
- Our professional staff will continue to support grant seekers by providing advice, feedback, and available funds, while ensuring that appropriate projects are “ready” to compete when more resources are available.
It is tempting but impossible for us to anticipate how long these difficult economic conditions may last. In response the Foundation has taken steps to conserve assets for the benefit of others by freezing hiring and cutting administrative overhead. It is not business as usual at the Foundation either.
It is also difficult to anticipate what new needs may emerge or what impact federal stimulus dollars may have in our communities. We do anticipate engaging in more grantmaking activity in 2010, and “we want to be ready when you are.” Our staff and Board are revising existing grant guidelines and hope to release new strategic guidelines before the end of 2009.
This is an economic time like no other, but our commitment to successful citizens and vital rural communities in Oregon and Siskiyou County, CA, remains paramount. Kenneth and Hallie Ford built the Foundation for the long term benefit of rural communities and contributing citizens. We remain one of the largest philanthropies in Oregon with substantial programs and resources to benefit the public interest. Please check our website regularly for future updates and opportunities.
Sincerely,
THE FORD FAMILY FOUNDATION
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/annual-letter/Pages/2009-economic-crisis.aspx
206.709.3100
Looking specifically at the foundation, our assets decreased in value by about 20 percent in 2008. I never thought I would say losing 20 percent is a reasonable result, but it is better than most endowments because so many asset classes went down by more than 20 percent in 2008. The team led by Michael Larson that handles the investments has always done a great job. During the past five years, as the foundation was growing, we spent a bit over 5 percent of its assets each year in addition to the gift from Warren. There is nothing magic about the 5 percent figure, except that it is the minimum required by the IRS. Our spending in 2008 was $3.3 billion. In 2009, instead of reducing this amount, we are choosing to increase it to $3.8 billion, which is about 7 percent of our assets.
Kinsman Foundation
http://www.kinsmanfoundation.org
503.654.1668
From a phone call to the Kinsman Foundation: They expect their giving to remain at approximately 5% of their value this year. They are scrutinizing larger grants more carefully this year and are prioritizing recurring grantees over new funding requests. In 2010 they will review their giving policies, and they expect to make some changes. They will consider scaling back their giving at that time to focus more on ‘mom and pop’ grantees and on the foundation’s highest priority issues.
To Grantees and Applicants to the Betty Kinsman Fund:
Our board of directors met early in September to decide our 2008 grants and to craft a budget for our 2009 grants. Our budget discussion was overshadowed by the fact that our 2008 Betty Kinsman distributions were 170% of the 2008 budgeted amount.
It’s not that we’re not pleased with each and every arts, culture and humanities grant we authorized. In fact, this extravagance offered us both the reward of helping many organizations and the incentive to closely examine the kinds of activities we want to support with our limited resources.
We have agreed among ourselves that we cannot continue to overspend our budgets. The more recent financial upheaval affirms our agreement, as it has significantly reduced our 2009 grants budget.
We have not yet agreed among ourselves specifically how to modify our granting pattern. In our discussions, some board members suggested a maximum grant amount, with smaller grants going to more grantees. Some suggested larger grants to fewer grantees. Others thought we should more carefully target our primary interests: small or small-town organizations; theater; individual excellence or innovation. We’ll consider all our directors’ suggestions in the months ahead.
When we adopted this area of interest in 2005, we selected specific arts and culture areas without knowing what response we might generate. Now that we understand the demand in our chosen areas far exceeds what we can supply, we will address these issues:
Documentary films. We are unlikely to support an individual film unless it addresses one of our other interest areas or otherwise uniquely appeals to our Foundation. We will continue to consider events that showcase or acknowledge filmmaking or collections of films, such as festivals, awards or prizes.
Timing of grant decisions. With the possibility of narrowing our grantee field comes our desire to maximize our ability to critically compare competing proposals. We will reevaluate our current practice of continuously considering grants of less than $10,000 and deciding the balance of our grants in September. We know that our current schedule is unwieldy for companies who start seasons in September or October, and may switch to deciding nearly all grants in April, limiting our $10,000 interim grants to proposals reflecting exigent circumstances.
Eligibility areas. We will address a very difficult decision: whether to eliminate dance and music from our grants, and confine our performing arts grants to theater activities. We are likely to discontinue our advertised support of “fine arts”, as this area has gone without further definition and is mostly unused.
For 2009, expect us to more closely consider the characteristics described on our website, www.kinsmanfoundation.org, Application Guidelines, then Eligibility Areas; and to pay more careful attention to our mission and model grantee ideals found on our website at About Us, then Mission and Model Grantee. We have no intention of abandoning our current grantees in 2009, particularly those whom we’ve signaled we’ll support yearly. Our awards, however, may be smaller, as our total budget will have declined significantly. New applicants may not be offered grants even though their circumstances are equivalent to a current grantee’s.
For 2010, we will by May 2009 announce whether we will continue to support proposals addressing dance, music and fine arts. We’ll make a timely decision whether our full slate of 2010 grants will be decided in April 2010 or September 2010.
We appreciate your continuing interest in our foundation, and solicit your comments on the issues we’ve addressed here.
Sincerely,
Keith Kinsman
The Kinsman Foundation
Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation
http://www.kongsgaard-goldman.org/who/message
206.448.1874
A Message from our Founders
The fall of 2008, we celebrate the Foundation’s 20th anniversary. This occasion has presented us with both a particularly challenging and rich docket, and an opportunity, (to get foreign on you), to not so much reassess our raison d’être, as to contemplate our modus operandi going forward
We received a typical number of pre-applications this cycle, over 130, but made the decision to invite only 7 organizations to provide full proposals. This represents a sharp departure for us as it is by far the smallest docket in our 20 years of grantmaking. Its size and our delay signal that something is up at the Kongsgaard-Goldman Foundation. We have this fall taken an intentional time-out to regroup and deliberately chart the course of our community involvement for the next 20 years.
We are aware that this ‘slow down’ comes at a less-than-ideal time for most of our family of grantees and for those whom we have yet to meet. Strangely, this break is coincident to the global economic meltdown and not caused by it.
Charlotte Y. Martin Foundation
http://www.charlottemartin.org/index.htm
info@charlottemartin.org
Not awarding grants or taking applications until 4/1/09
Meyer Memorial Trust
http://www.mmt.org/
503.228.5512
An Update on MMT's Response to Economic Conditions
- Meyer Memorial Trust experienced a 23% decline in the value of assets during this period, leaving a balance on December 31, 2008 of $530 million.
- As a result, we anticipate having less money to distribute over the next few years than we have had in the recent past. At the same time, we are well aware of the double challenges confronting the nonprofit sector –- organizations are faced with responding to increasing demand for critical human services at the same time they are coping with declining revenues from individual and corporate donors, reduced public funding and declining foundation funding.
- In the midst of the constant bombardment of bad news, however, I want to offer some reassurance. While the Trust’s payout will be less this year than in the recent past ($32 million in FY '07, $37 million in FY ’08 and approximately $29 million anticipated for FY ’09), we are open for business and we plan to continue to make new awards throughout the balance of this calendar year. We of course plan to honor all grant and loan commitments already awarded.
Despite these challenging times, we find much to feel positive and hopeful about. We have developed a number of targeted ways to respond to current economic conditions that we hope will give nonprofit organizations reason to feel positive and hopeful as well.
Operating Funds Grant Program
- MMT is launching an Operating Funds grant program to help small- and mid-sized organizations that have been hit particularly hard by the economic crisis. This opportunity will provide grants of up to $50,000 to key organizations that have received a Responsive or General Purpose Grant from MMT within the past five years and for whom a cash infusion will be critical to weathering the economic storm. This program is now open, with more information posted here and here.
- Other types of operating requests should continue to be made through the Trust’s Responsive and Grassroots Grant programs as usual.
Shared Resources Planning Grants
- As we recently announced, MMT is soliciting proposals for planning grants to allow nonprofits to explore shared space and services opportunities in order to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. Details of this opportunity are available here.
Refining MMT's Grant Priorities
MMT is focusing the lens through which we review funding requests. Over the balance of 2009, the following considerations will guide our work:
- Proposals to expand or maintain critical human services in response to demonstrated needs will be our highest priority. While we will continue to consider requests from nonprofits working in other areas of social services, the arts, education, and the environment –- and anticipate making grants in some or all of these areas over the coming year –- critical human services will be prioritized.
- In all areas, expansion of existing programs to serve increased demand created by the challenging economy will generally be preferred over development of new programs. Opportunities that are time-sensitive or have strong potential to leverage other funds will be favored over those that could reasonably be postponed until the economic outlook is brighter.
- Capital projects will only have limited funds available. We will look most favorably on modest requests for capital projects for which most funds (~80%) have been raised or for which MMT funds would be paid out in future fiscal years.
- Capacity building investments will be modest. As always, capacity building projects based on solid planning and reflecting credible projections will receive best consideration.
- Multi-year awards will generally be modest and limited. Modest multi-year funding requests are preferred given the uncertainty about when the economy will stabilize.
- Requests to enhance efficiencies and effectiveness are encouraged. We also encourage well-planned proposals designed to gain efficiencies or increase effectiveness in the delivery of program services. For example, transfer of services between organizations, mergers, co-locating, sharing of back office functions, etc.
- Finally, we encourage current Meyer Trust grantees to contact their program officers if there is concern about the ability to effectively carry out work funded by our grants.
- We are also reducing MMT administrative expenses. Consistent with prudent business practices we have and will continue to take steps to reduce our operating costs in order to maximize the level of funding available to nonprofits across the region.
We know that –- in great part due to the good work of local nonprofit communities in our region –- we will get through these uncertain and challenging times. Thank you for your creative and passionate work that informs our efforts to continue delivering significant social benefit to Oregon and southwest Washington communities.
- We will keep providing you with updates as we continue our way through uncharted waters. We also pledge to challenge ourselves to look for more and new ways to provide support to our nonprofit partners. We welcome your suggestions and wisdom.
Doug Stamm
CEO, Meyer Memorial Trust
M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
http://www.murdock-trust.org/
(360) 694-8415
In a telephone conversation, Murdock Charitable Trust indicated that while the dollars available for funding have decreased with the economic downturn, they expect their giving to continue to follow their existing funding priorities and to remain at about the 5% level it has in the past. The Trust’s priorities for general grants include:
Education
The Trust considers educational projects and programs offered in both formal and informal settings. We emphasize program enhancement or expansion, as well as new approaches consistent with your institution’s mission and resources.
Arts & Culture
Performance and visual arts projects which enrich the cultural environment of the region are of great interest to the Trust. We especially value educational outreach efforts.
Health and Human Services
The Trust is interested in a diverse range of projects and programs to enhance the quality of life in the region. We emphasize preventive efforts which address physical, spiritual, social, and psychological needs. Programs with a focus on youth are especially valued.
About half of the grants awarded are for capital projects, and the other half are for program initiation, expansion, or for increased organizational capacity.
The Trust is expected to look most favorably at proposals and projects that acknowledge a recognition of the current economic conditions in the scale and timeline of their proposals.
Norcliffe Foundation
http://www.thenorcliffefoundation.com/index.html
206.682-4820
Norcliffe Foundation indicates they are still in holding pattern, and still accepting proposals as always. No input as to any changes in funding.
Rasmuson Foundation
http://www.rasmuson.org
(907) 297-2700
(taken from their web site)
Clarification of recent news coverage
Anchorage - In the past two weeks, Rasmuson Foundation President Diane Kaplan has met with grantees and partners around Alaska for discussions about the state of the funding community as we know it. She included in her comments some updates about how the current economic climate will effect Rasmuson grantmaking. The Anchorage Daily News reported on this discussion and while their account of the discussion was largely correct, there are a few items we feel deserve additional clarity:
1. The Foundation's 2008 year-end assets were estimated to be about $425 million. However, Kaplan told grantees that $425 million was likely an overstatement because certain assets, such as private equity and real estate, were stated using September 30 valuations—the latest available. Kaplan stated that the Foundation's best guess is that today current assets are closer to $380 million. The average asset size in the calendar year establishes the base minimum five percent grant payout amount required by the Internal Revenue Service. Foundations can pay more than the base five percent but not less without incurring tax penalties. Rasmuson Foundation plans to stay close to the five percent base payout and will re-evaluate its position continuously throughout the year, but is not required to do so by law. We are choosing to do so to preserve principal assets with a long-term view of growing our grantmaking dollars.
2. In 2008, the Arts Initiative awarded about $1.4 million in grants. We expect this number to be reduced to $860,000 in 2009. We plan to hold harmless direct grants to artists and schools but funds allocated to other arts programs, such as the Art Acquisition Fund, will be subject to some reductions. Artists should be aware that beginning this year, there will be only one annual deadline for Individual Artist Awards: a March 1 postmark. Read more about Individual Artist Awards here.
3. And finally, the Foundation's Tier 2 program, which makes awards over $25,000 to support strategic projects and the expansion or start-up of innovative programs by established organizations, may make no new awards in 2009. However, Rasmuson Foundation realizes the importance of remaining responsive to community needs during this turbulent period and our staff are willing to entertain questions and discussions about projects that absolutely require a Tier 2 grant this year. When the Foundation Board meets in June, decisions about any additional Tier 2 grants in 2009 will be made, based on current market conditions and the size of commitments payable for grants already awarded.
Rasmuson Foundation is committed to communicating directly with our grantees and partners about how the changes here might impact them. Please check this website for future updates, subscribe to the Foundation blog, or join us on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter to get regular updates.
Wilburforce Foundation
http://www.wilburforce.org/
206-632-2325
Please refer to the letter from Northwest Environmental Funders, under Bullitt Foundation, above. Wilburforce Foundation is one of the signers of the letter.
