July 10, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Hit hard by the economic downturn, a small foundation has opted to spend all of its remaining assets and close its doors — a move some nonprofit leaders have encouraged.
The Paul Rapoport Foundation, which supports gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual causes in the New York area, announced this week its decision to shut down after a precipitous decline in its endowment.
“After engaging outside consultants to evaluate its past funding and its options for continuing to support the New York LGTB population,” the fund says in a press statement, “the foundation’s board and staff unanimously agreed to seek to maximize its impact over the next five years by dramatically increasing its funding levels in the near‐term and spending out by 2015.”
The organization says it currently has about $7.5-million and is developing a plan on how it will spent its remaining assets.
Several nonprofit officials have argued that small or mid-size foundations like Rapoport should consider spending all their assets during the downturn.
John Hunting, for example, established the Beldon Fund to provide all of its assets — $100-million — over a decade. In a recent Chronicle article he argues that as the recession depletes foundations’ assets, it is giving them a new incentive to consider following Beldon’s lead.
“Right now charities are hurting,” he said. “Small foundations could help them get over this rough patch so they can go to the in-perpetuity foundations later on.”
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What do you think? Should more grant makers consider giving their entire endowments to charity?
