The Foundation Center, a leading authority on philanthropy, has released new reports that examine the payout practices and spending patterns of more than 1,000 larger U.S. independent foundations.
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Get Your Report Now!The report finds that whether a foundation employs paid staff is the single most important factor affecting its expense levels, followed by staff size.
The amount a foundation spends on staff, overhead, and other program-related administrative expenses is included in the calculation of its qualifying distributions each year. Benchmarking Foundation Administrative Expenses: Update on How Operating Characteristics Affect Spending considers how differences in foundations’ infrastructure, operations, and programmatic activities influence their spending patterns.
In addition, foundations that regularly engage in international grantmaking, foundation-administered programs, or making grants directly to individuals have expenses-to-qualifying distribution ratios that are roughly twice as high as those that do not.
Understanding and Benchmarking Foundation Payout and Benchmarking Foundation Administrative Expenses can be downloaded at no charge from the Gain Knowledge area of the Foundation Center's website.