Letter: In Tough Times, Foundations Must Keep Giving

" “Bracing for Lean Times Ahead” (Giving section, Nov. 11) highlights the critical role philanthropy plays in times of economic crisis.

I agree, and believe that foundations should maintain, even increase, their giving in difficult economic times. The issues the MacArthur Foundation confronts at home and abroad — human rights, conservation and affordable housing preservation, among others — grow more, not less, urgent when the global economy is in recession."

Full-text of letter is available via the New York Times, 11.18.08.

Bracing For Lean Times Ahead

Given the financial tremors that have obliterated wealth and driven the economy deep into the doldrums, will charitable giving, which reached record levels in the United States over the past decade, show sharp declines? Will foundations, faced with shrunken endowments, scale back their grant-making? Will individual charities, squeezed by reductions in both private and public money, be forced to cut programs?

Full-text article by Stephanie Strom is available via the New York Times, 11.10.08.

As The Economy Declines, Donors Rethink Estate Plans

For donors, a crucial question has always been how much to give to charity while alive and what to leave in an estate plan. The current economic crisis is causing many people to rethink their original answer.

Full-text article by Deborah L. Jacobs is available via the New York Times, 11.10.08.

Colleges Are Not Going Hungry, But Are In Need

In a more normal year, the alumni fund-raising plea that turns up in the mail right about now seems perfectly in tune as the day for thanks gives way to a month of giving.

But this year is different. Huge numbers of people have lost their homes to foreclosure. Unemployment is on the rise. And a good chunk of the United States automobile industry could wither away within months, taking hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs with it.

Full-text article by Ron Lieber is available via the New York Times, 11.28.08.

Private Schools Say They’re Thriving In Downturn

Private schools across New York City say they are thriving this fall, with record numbers of applicants and no significant decline in donations. Yet almost daily, even brand-name schools are finding that they have to reassure jittery parents about shrinking endowments and dispel rumors that requests for financial aid are pouring in, and that economically squeezed families are pulling their children out and enrolling them in public schools.

Full-text article by Winnie Hu and Alison Leigh Cowan is available via the New York Times, 11.28.08.

Beyond The Ivied Halls, Endowments Suffer

Some of the nation’s universities are trying to sell chunks of their portfolios privately as their endowments swoon with the markets.

Among institutional investors, school endowments aggressively embraced private equity, real estate partnerships, venture capital, commodities, hedge funds and other so-called alternative investments over the last few years. Endowments with more than $1 billion in assets reported 35 percent of their holdings in these types of investments on average last year, a much greater portion than big public pension funds, for example.

Now they are balking. The value of some of these investments has fallen, and they are not easily shed because there is no public market for them, as there is for stocks. Worse, private equity and venture capital funds require investors to put up additional capital over time. Cash may now be in short supply at schools facing budget pressures and investment losses.

Full-text article by Claire Cain Miller and Geraldine Fabrikant is available via the New York Times, 11.25.08.