Inside Philanthropy’s Boardroom ‘Bubble’
May 2, 2017 | Read Time: 3 minutes
A first-of-its-kind Chronicle analysis puts data behind the longstanding concern that large foundations are elite, insular, and out of touch with average Americans.
At the 20 wealthiest national foundations, which control $162 billion in assets, plenty of board members have degrees from top private universities, but only a handful few live in rural or poor parts of the United States.
The analysis, which examined the gender, race, education, and residence of 232 foundation trustees, found that:
- More trustees have Harvard degrees (52) than live in the “flyover states” (51).
- Only one of the 232 trustees lives in one of the five states with the highest poverty rates.
- 81 percent have graduate degrees.
- 40 percent have Ivy League degrees.
The Chronicle also examined racial, ethnic and gender diversity on the boards. It found that 72 percent of trustees are white, while 63 percent are male.
See the full report here. Below are the 20 foundations in our analysis. To see the data about a board, click on the grant maker’s name; you can also click on up to three foundation names to see the information on multiple boards.
To see data for any single foundation, unclick the name of the foundation you were previously reviewing.
- ✓Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- ✓Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- ✓Bloomberg Philanthropies
- ✓Carnegie Corporation
- ✓David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- ✓Ford Foundation
- ✓Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- ✓John Templeton Foundation
- ✓JPB Foundation
- ✓Kresge Foundation
- ✓Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
- ✓Lilly Endowment
- ✓MacArthur Foundation
- ✓Margaret A. Cargill Foundation
- ✓Open Society Foundations
- ✓Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- ✓Rockefeller Foundation
- ✓Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation
- ✓W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- ✓William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
- ‹
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Assets:
$6.4 Billion
Board Members:
10
- The board roster includes a Harvard professor, the vice president of the Harvard Library, and a former CEO of the company that manages Harvard’s endowment.
- Seven trustees have Ivy degrees; six have Ph.D.s, the highest concentration of any board.
- One of four boards with no trustees living in the middle of the country.
Gender
Male
Female
Race/Ethnicity
Asian
Black
Latino
White
Other
Location
East
Interior
South
–>
West
International
Education
J.D.
M.B.A.
M.D.
Ph.D.
Ivy League*
The Chronicle analyzed the board makeup of the 20 largest foundations in the country, based on 2014 asset size as reported by the Foundation Center. Community and regional grant makers were not included.
Twelve foundations provided The Chronicle with information on the gender, race, ethnicity, education, and residence of their trustees. Some also provided data about board members’ ages.
For trustees at the foundations that would not provide the information, The Chronicle relied on public sources, including published biographies, networking sites such as LinkedIn, and campaign-contribution records filed with the Federal Election Commission. If a trustee’s residence could not be determined, we used the primary place of work most recently available.
The Chronicle was unable to collect all the information for eight of the 232 trustees currently holding seats at the 20 foundations.
