Boston Foundation assets top $1 billion, donors make $112 million in grants in …

Boston – announced today that for the first time in its 99-year history it had net assets totaling more than $1 billion, and that the Foundation and its donors shattered Foundation records for grantmaking with $112 million in grants paid out in the 2014 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

 

“This is truly a remarkable milestone in the long and illustrious history of this foundation,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “But the billion-dollar milestone would be meaningless if it weren’t generating millions of dollars in grants to organizations that extend justice and opportunity to all the people of Greater Boston.”

“It is truly humbling to think of the donors, both old and new, who have entrusted their philanthropic dollars to the Boston Foundation, and we are proud of the work we have done to ensure that those dollars are having the greatest possible impact,” Grogan added.

 

The $112 million in grants paid out was matched by another strong year of gifts by donors, who invested $112 million in donor-advised funds and in the Foundation’s signature endowment, the Permanent Fund for Boston, Greater Boston’s only endowment fund, which supports organizations focused on the most pressing needs of the region. As Greater Boston’s community foundation, the Boston Foundation is able to provide unparalleled advisory services, research and customized philanthropic consulting to its donors, whether they choose to focus giving in Greater Boston or elsewhere in the world.

 

“Through good times and bad, the Permanent Fund for Boston has been a powerful part of philanthropy in Greater Boston, thanks to the support of donors who recognize the Permanent Fund as a vehicle to address the region’s known challenges and those we will experience in the future,” said Grogan. “Gifts made this year into the Permanent Fund are gifts whose impact will resonate throughout this great city and region for decades to come.”

 

Like many community foundations, the Boston Foundation saw a sharp increase in gifts to donor-advised funds beginning at the end of the 2012 calendar year, amid uncertainty over the future of the charitable giving tax deduction. But that momentum continued into the second half of 2013 and 2014, which have been the two strongest fiscal years for fundraising in the Boston Foundation’s history.

 

The Boston Foundation will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2015 – over its history, the Foundation has distributed more than $1.4 billion to nonprofit organizations, half of that in just the past eight fiscal years.

 

“As we move toward our second century, it is exceptionally gratifying to watch the pace of giving from the Foundation and its donors accelerate,” added Grogan. “While we are so proud of our support throughout the past century to organizations large and small, to be able to say we and our donors have given more to the community in eight years as in the first 90 years of our existence sets a high standard from which to continue to grow in 2015 and beyond.”

 

5 Sep 2014

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