Assets at Community Funds Climb 20%, Survey Finds

By HARVY LIPMAN

Driven by the booming stock market and an influx of new donations,

combined assets at community foundations across the nation grew to nearly $30-billion last year, an increase of almost 20 percent from 1998, according to an annual survey by the Columbus Foundation, in Ohio.

Community-foundation assets have more than doubled since 1995, and nearly tripled since 1994, the report said.

Gifts to community foundations rose more than $3.6-billion, a 28-percent increase from the year before. Community foundations gave out $1.9-billion in grants, an increase of 26 percent from the $1.4-billion distributed in 1998.

The growth is fueled by a combination of the thriving economy and the beginnings of an intergenerational transfer of wealth that is expected to reach trillions of dollars in the next several decades, says James I. Luck, president of the Columbus Foundation.

Another key factor, he says, is that community foundations have spent much of the past decade expanding their fund-raising offices.

When the survey was first conducted in 1988, Mr. Luck says, “there was probably not one community foundation with more than one person” whose job was devoted to fund raising.

“In most places, there were none,” he adds. “We put together a staff of seven and started to see results, and we shared that with other community foundations, who did the same. This is a one-on-one business. If you’re going to get somebody to leave you $1-million or $10-million, you’ve got to develop relationships with people. We’re not selling hosiery.”

Community foundations generally serve specific geographic areas, both raising and distributing most of their money within a single region.

Mr. Luck says that many wealthy donors contribute to community foundations because they were referred by friends and relatives.

“It’s most important that community foundations have direct relationships with as many people as possible,” Mr. Luck says.

The better job a foundation does of making itself known to lawyers and others who advise wealthy people, and of making its case that giving to the foundation is the best way to serve a community’s broad interest, the more money it will raise, he says. And that, Mr. Luck says, requires a knowledgeable and aggressive fund-raising staff.

Biggest Gainers

Mr. Luck says that the combined total of gifts received and grants distributed may be even higher than what was reported in the survey, because about 150 community foundations could not provide figures for 1999. Three were unable to provide asset totals for that year.

The newly released survey covered 582 foundations, compared to the 555 that provided information in 1998.

The 30 biggest foundations account for about two-thirds of the total assets, grants, and gifts. Eight received more than $100-million in gifts in 1999, up from three community foundations the prior year. But Mr. Luck says that percentage increases in gifts and assets were distributed fairly evenly at both large and small foundations.

In 1988, eight foundations received more than $10-million in gifts. In 1999, 74 did. The number with more than $100-million in assets has grown from 12 in 1988 to 61 last year.

As it has been every year since the survey was begun, the New York Community Trust was the wealthiest community foundation in the nation, with $2-billion in assets in 1999. It also distributed the most in grants — $128.2-million. The Cleveland Foundation, with $1.6-billion in assets last year, was the second wealthiest foundation, as it has been throughout the survey’s history. The California Community Foundation was the second-most generous, giving out $112.9-million in grants.

The Omaha Community Foundation received the most from donors, $197-million in 1999, followed by the California Community Foundation ($170.7-million) and the Community Foundation Silicon Valley ($169.4-million).

A copy of the Columbus Foundation’s full report on its survey is available at the foundation’s Internet site, http://www.columbusfoundation.org. Free copies can also be obtained by contacting the Columbus Foundation, 1234 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43205; (614) 251-4000.