March 10, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Should foundations exist forever?
The answer to that question is yes for many foundations. But Paul Shoemaker, executive director of Social Venture Partners, in Seattle, says wealthy people who create foundations should think about this question more critically.
“Some causes and nonprofits might deliver more positive good in the world if they had the same amount of money sooner vs. spreading it over a longer period of time,” Mr. Shoemaker writes on the Social Venture Partners blog. “Again, this certainly is not a ‘mandatory,’ but it is worth your strong consideration if you are creating a family foundation or some kind of permanent corpus.”
He cites the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as an organization that plans to distribute all of its assets within 50 to 100 years, rather than operating in perpetuity.
What do you think? Should more foundations spend their assets quickly to solve social problems? Or are they better off guaranteeing that they will be around forever? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.
