May « 2008 « Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog

House Committee Votes on IRA Charitable Rollover

May 19, 2008

Summary of a Legislative Update sent from the national Council on Foundations:

U.S. Capitol Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee approved Chairman Charles Rangel’s (D-NY) fully offset, $56.6-billion package of expired and expiring tax provisions. The Energy and Tax Extenders Act, H.R.6049, combines one-year extensions of tax provisions that expired in 2007 and will expire in 2008.

Included in the bill is an extension of the IRA charitable rollover, at $465 million over 10 years. Other provisions (and their cost over 10 years) include the enhanced charitable deduction of food inventory ($71 million), book inventory ($31 million), and computers ($260 million), as well as the modification of the tax treatment of certain payments under existing arrangements to controlling exempt organizations ($35 million).

The full House is expected to vote on H.R.6049 before Memorial Day. S.2886, the broader Senate version that extends expired and expiring tax provisions through 2009, will not be marked up in the Senate Finance Committee until June, according to Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). It is important to note that the House bill includes one-year extensions while the Senate bill includes two-year extensions.

Although these and other differences will have to be worked out in conference, a final bill is expected to be sent to the President sometime after the November 2008 election.

Comments Off | corporate, government | Permalink
Posted by Chuck Peterson

Welcome, New MCF Member!

May 19, 2008

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota – Center for Prevention, a corporate community funding program located in Eagan

Prevention Minnesota is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota’s long-term commitment to improve the health of Minnesotans by tackling four major causes of heart disease and cancer: tobacco use, secondhand smoke, physical inactivity (including the catchy do commercials) and unhealthy eating. Read more about their programs.

Blue Cross created The Center for Tobacco Reduction and Health Improvement (The Center) in 1998 after settlement of the landmark lawsuit brought by Blue Cross and the State of Minnesota against the tobacco industry. In 2006, Blue Cross committed $241 million to Prevention Minnesota.

Comments Off | corporate, mcf | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Update on Disaster Relief

May 16, 2008

Minnesota grantmakers have begun to report their contributions to disaster relief in Myanmar and China. Please send us your foundation’s contributions, and we will update the page frequently.

Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors held a second teleconference this morning to brief grantmakers about relief efforts in both locations. Summaries from today’s call and an earlier call this week about Myanmar are on Arabella’s website.

Comments Off | disasters, international | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Philanthropic Response to Recent Disasters

May 15, 2008

Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors will hold a teleconference on Friday to brief donors on the latest relief and recovery needs and effective philanthropic strategies in response to the crises in Myanmar and China:

Friday, May 16, 11:00 – 12:00 ET
Dial-in number: 1.877.840.8799
Conference ID: 47921944

Summary of May 12 teleconference about Myanmar relief (PDF)
Aid Groups Pleased With Response to Myanmar and China Crises
(Chronicle of Philanthropy)
How to Contribute (compiled by the New York Times)
More information from Southern California Grantmakers

Comments Off | disasters | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Outlook for Foundation Giving in 2008

May 15, 2008

I had the opportunity to attend the Foundation Center’s webinar, “The Outlook for Foundation Giving in 2008: Insights on Funding in the Current Economic Environment,” this afternoon. Data presented was from their recent report Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: Current Outlook (PDF). Here are some highlights:

Growth in grantmaking was anticipated in 2007 across all grantmaker types, with private and community foundations posting the largest gains.
Continued growth is also predicted in 2008, such that grantmaking will stay ahead of the inflation curve. Most grantmakers determine grant payout based on a rolling average of assets for at least two years, if not more. Since 2006 was a great year for assets and 2007 was okay, an increase in grantmaking in 2008 is expected.
In general, gifts and bequests have increased to private and community foundations, even taking into account large gifts from Buffet and Gates. Donor advised funds have also gotten very popular, which can increase community foundations’ assets and giving. The intergenerational transfer of wealth has/will affect gifts to foundations as well.
The number of new foundations in recent years has also grown. It may take a little while for new foundations to establish a presence, so a boom in giving is possible in 15-20 years as these many new foundations mature.
When looking at the data, one has to take it in context. Grantmaking dropped after 9/11, but this was after incredible increases, from $16B in 1997 to $30.5B in 2001, the highest ever reported. Corporate grantmakers are expected to have a smaller increase in giving in 2007 compared to private and community foundations. However, corporate grantmakers had a huge spike in giving in 2005 with disaster funding.

Anne Graham, Information Services and Database Assistant

Join the conversation: How will the current economic climate affect your grantmaking?

Comments Off | research | Permalink
Posted by Anne Graham

Welcome, New MCF Member!

May 15, 2008

Through the SUPERVALU Foundation and the company’s distribution regions and corporate retail companies, SUPERVALU helps provide funding, product donations and volunteer time in communities throughout the nation. The SUPERVALU Foundation manages giving at the corporate level and focuses on giving in the state of Minnesota where SUPERVALU corporate headquarters is located.

Some of the ways SUPERVALU contributes:

Hunger Relief: Product and financial donations to comprehensive hunger relief organizations and nonprofit food distribution centers.
Education: K-12 and post-secondary educational programs with a special interest in leadership development, school-to-work readiness, and after-school programs for children.
Workforce Development: Job training and self-sufficiency programs for minority, physically challenged, disabled and disadvantaged persons.
Fine Arts: Arts education programs in the corporate headquarter’s community.
Social Services: Generally addressed through significant grants allocated to the United Way in the corporate headquarters communities.

Comments Off | corporate, mcf | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Giving Forum Opportunities

May 14, 2008

The next issue of MCF’s Giving Forum newspaper will focus on the many roles and responsibilities of foundation trustees. E-mail Wendy Wehr at wwehr@mcf.org to share story ideas.

Giving Forum sponsorships are also still available! Choose a $5,000, $3,000 or $1,000 sponsorship package and reach more than 40,000 readers in the foundation and nonprofit community. Contact Chuck Peterson at cpeterson@mcf.org.

Comments Off | giving forum, mcf | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Foundation Giving Hits Record in 2007

May 14, 2008

Foundation Center Giving Report The New York-based Foundation Center released Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: Current Outlook (PDF), which shows that U.S. foundations gave $42.9 billion in 2007, up 7.1 percent from the year before. The New York Times says that’s a record total.

Looking ahead:

Although the current economic downturn makes projections difficult, findings from the Foundation Center’s 2008 “Foundation Giving Forecast Survey” suggest that prospects for growth in giving this year remain modestly positive. Just over half of the survey’s respondents expect to increase their giving in 2008, with the biggest foundations being most likely to expect increased giving. An estimated 9 percent rise in foundation assets in 2007 to a record $670 billion also points to foundations continuing to show positive, albeit more modest, growth in giving in the current year.

The Foundation Center will hold a webinar on Thursday from 1-2 p.m. central to discuss the findings.

Other yearly giving reports (with the most recent information available):

	Family Foundations America’s family foundations gave $16 billion in 2006, up 13% from 2005, according to this report (PDF) from the Foundation Center. Giving by family foundations has more than doubled since 1998 — the first year for which statistics are available — and accounts for 59% of giving by independent foundations overall.
	Corporate Foundations This report (PDF) from the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy shows that companies gave an average of 4.8% more in 2006 than in 2005, even though 43% of companies reported a decline in giving following higher giving in previous years due to disaster relief. 13% increased giving by more than 30%, which helped to offset reduced giving by other companies.
	Community/Public Foundations Estimated giving by the nation’s 707 community foundations rose to a record $3.6 billion in 2006, up 13.2% from the previous year, according to this report (PDF) from the Foundation Center. In addition, gifts received by community foundations hit a record of $5.6 billion, up 45%.
	Minnesota Foundations MCF’s annual giving report shows that Minnesota’s 1,378 grantmakers gave more than $1 billion for the second straight year, even though the $1.02 billion total was down 1.9%. Because of disaster relief funding, Human Services received the largest share of the state’s grant dollars. More Minnesota giving trends and analysis…