How The Chronicle’s Survey of America’s Largest Foundations Was Compiled

The 19th annual Chronicle of Philanthropy survey of the nation’s largest foundations examined financial information from 187 grant makers.

Of those institutions, 107 filled out a questionnaire The Chronicle sent them in January.

Information on the 80 foundations that declined to participate came from their Form 990-PF, the informational tax return that grant makers are required to file with the Internal Revenue Service and make available to the public.

In 2010 the combined assets at 89 foundations that provided two years’ worth of data topped $170.5-billion, up 5 percent from 2009.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, remains the largest foundation on the list, with $36.7-billion in total assets.

Making the Cut

Including Gates, the 10 wealthiest foundations in the United States have a total of $130.8-billion in assets. That figure demonstrates how much wealth is clustered among the biggest grant makers. The top 10 accounted for nearly 60 percent of the assets of grant makers in the survey.

To determine which grant makers were eligible for this year’s survey, The Chronicle used data collected by the Foundation Center, in New York. Foundations were eligible for inclusion in the survey if they were among the 150 wealthiest grant makers or among the 150 that gave the largest amount to charity in the most recent fiscal year for which data were available.

To be included in the survey, grant makers had to hold assets of at least $289-million or have awarded at least $21.7-million in grants in the fiscal year ending in 2009, the most recent year for which all the foundations had audited financial information. The Chronicle also included foundations that met at least one of those standards in the 2010 fiscal year.

Figures for 2010 are estimated for most foundations, since many closed their fiscal year on December 31 and in many cases their books have not been audited yet.

One grant maker, the Hess Foundation, in New York, refused The Chronicle’s repeated requests for its Form 990-PF. Nonprofit groups are required to make this form available to anyone who asks for it.

Because of the foundation’s refusal, The Chronicle has reported the group to the IRS.

An interactive, searchable database and more information from the survey are available here.

The foundation survey was compiled by Noelle Barton, Peter Bolton, and Marisa López-Rivera.