Published: November 23, 2016
In 2008, on the eve of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, America’s foundations were doing better than ever. According to Foundation Center data, between 2003 and 2008, more than 10,000 new foundations were endowed, and total foundation assets grew by more than 40 percent. The boom years were especially good to the top 1 percent of funders, whose giving, and so it follows their assets, grew by 70 percent. Wealthy patrons were practically printing money, and their public spiritedness (and, cynics might say, their thirst for tax relief) redounded to the philanthropic sector’s benefit. In five years, American foundations were the beneficiaries of $164 billion in tax-subsidized gifts. …
Text updated 12/6/16.