Private Foundations
Private foundations make grants based on charitable endowments. The endowment funds come from one or a small handful of sources -- an individual, a family or a corporation. Because of their endowments, they are focused primarily on grantmaking and generally do not raise funds or seek public financial support the way public charities (like community foundations) must.
“Private foundation” is the umbrella term that includes corporate, independent, family, and operating foundations. As of 2011, there were 73,764 private foundations in the United States (Foundation Center, 2011).
In 2011, private foundations held more than $604 billion in assets and gave away more than $45 billion (Foundation Center, 2011).
Below is everything on our site for private foundations. Due to the large number of resources on our website, we highly recommend you use the site navigation or the search feature to find what you are looking for.
IRS Audit Survival Tips
Legal Compliance Guidance
Things to do NOW – “An Ounce of Prevention...”
Review your organization’s activities – seems simple and basic, but the IRS will be certainly asking about them and the audit context is not the time to learn about someone’s pet project for the first time. Do you have documentation to establish the…
Explanation of Proposed Treasury Regulations: Reliance Standards for Making Good Faith Determinations of Equivalency Determinations
Legal Compliance Guidance
September 24, 2012
The Department of Treasury and the IRS issued proposed regulations applicable to private foundations seeking to make grants to foreign organizations using equivalency determinations. The guidance broadens the range of professionals on whose written advice a private foundation…
Hurricane Sandy Treated as Qualified Disaster
Grantmakers should be advised that Hurricane Sandy is a “qualified disaster” for federal tax purposes. Under IRS rules, this means that employers may more easily assist employees affected by the disaster. Employers and their related foundations may make payments for reasonable and necessary…
Analysis of Type III Supporting Organization Regulations Issued December 28, 2012
Legal Compliance Guidance
On December 28, 2012, the Treasury Department and IRS issued final and temporary regulations on Type III supporting organizations. Simultaneously, proposed regulations were issued regarding payout for Type III non-functionally integrated supporting organizations. This analysis focuses on the areas…
Disaster Grantmaking: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations
Publication
Moved by widely publicized human suffering and increased disaster aid requests, foundations and corporations are becoming more active in the disaster relief field. Grantmakers have a distinct role to play in disasters because of their ongoing relations with grantees, long-term perspective,…
Philanthropy and Rural America
Publication
Rural America is the frontier for philanthropy to test assumptions, take risks, leverage dollars, influence public policy, and learn lessons. Building on a 2008 rural philanthropy conference, this journal captures ideas from the best minds in rural philanthropy. Learn what philanthropy is doing—or…
The Complete Guide to Grantmaking Basics: A Field Guide for Funders
Publication
The Complete Guide to Grantmaking Basics brings together and updates the information, guidance, and tips found in Grantmaking Basics I and II with more essential tools for grantmakers. This book is a practical guide to honing your grantmaking effectiveness and adapting to the changing nonprofit…
Showing the Heart of a Community Through Video
Our world has become increasingly dependent upon content to attract people’s attention. This content ranges from blogs on the Internet to television shows. Due to global shifts in our economy, economic developers have to work harder to attract companies and individual entrepreneurs. What used to be…
Are You a Serial Entrepreneur?
On Monday, DRF announced a $10 million grant to fund an entrepreneurship initiative to benefit the residents of the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County in Virginia and Caswell County in North Carolina, the foundation’s Dan River Region footprint. In a global economy, investment in those who…
Why the IRS Rulings on PRIs Matter
After a lot of encouragement from the field, the IRS is ready to issue new regulations regarding program-related investments (PRIs). The regulations don’t change the rules governing PRIs. Foundations will still be able to invest creatively to advance their mission, as well as…
Making It Happen in the Dan River Region
Time flies when you are doing good work. The Danville Regional Foundation launched its Make It Happen! (MIH!) program in November 2010 to show that everybody can make a difference through incremental changes, no matter how small. Now, approximately 18 months later, we just awarded our 50th MIH!…
Deadline for Career Pathways Program Approaching
The application deadline for the third class of the Council on Foundations’ Career Pathways Program is March 21. Individuals with diverse backgrounds seeking career advancement in the field of philanthropy are encouraged to apply.
In two short years, the Career Pathways program has…
Rumor Has It: Dispelling Myths about Private Foundations and Advocacy
On the heels of Foundations on the Hill and many blogs on the topic, some of you may be scratching your heads asking, can a foundation really talk to legislators, educate them about the issues important to your foundation’s mission, and advocate to better position philanthropy?
The short answer is…
Conflicts of Interest at Foundations: Avoiding the Bad and Managing the Good
BoardSource | A partnership of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and the Council of Michigan Foundations
Even the most comprehensive conflict-of-interest policy cannot cover every conceivable situation where there might be the appearance of a conflict. Accordingly, conflict-of-…
Charitable Giving
Issue
The charitable deduction is a tax provision which allows individuals to reduce their taxable income by the total amount of charitable contributions they made in that tax year (with some limitations, depending of the type of gift—i.e. cash, stocks, property—or the type of organization…