STATEMENT CONCERNING PUBLICATIONS OF RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION The Russell Sage Foundation was established in 1907 by Mrs. Russell Sage "for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States of America." In carrying out its purpose the Foundation maintains a staff which, among other duties, conducts studies of social conditions, author- ized by the General Director, where new information, its analysis and interpretation seem necessary in order to formu- late and advance practicable measures aimed at improvement. From time to time the Foundation publishes the results of these studies in book or pamphlet form. In formulating the problem for study, in mapping out a plan of work on it, in collecting facts, in drawing conclu- sions, and in the presentation of findings, authors of Foun- dation studies, who are always either members of the staff or specially commissioned research workers, have the benefit of the criticism and advice of their colleagues in the organi- zation. Full freedom is given research workers for the final decision on all of these steps, and in presenting and inter- preting both factual material and conclusions in their own way. While the general responsibility for management of the Foundation is vested in the board of trustees, the respon- sibility for facts, conclusions, and interpretations rests with the research workers alone and not upon the Foundation, its trustees, or other members of the staff. Publication under the imprint of the Foundation does not imply agreement by the organization or its members with opinions or interpretations of authors. It does imply that care has been taken that the research on which a book is based has been thoroughly done. AMERICAN FOUNDATIONS FOR SOCIAL WELFARE By SHELBY M. HARRISON General Director, Russell Sage Foundation F. EMERSON ANDREWS Director of Publications, Russell Sage Foundation Includes a Directory of 505 Foundations New York RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 1946 Copyright, 1946, by Russell Sage Foundation Printed in the United States of America Printed May, 1946 Reprinted August, 1946 E. L. HlLDRETH AND COMPANY printers at Bratdeboro, Vermont CONTENTS Page Charts and Illustrations 5 Tables 6 Preface 7 PART I FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICA The Rise of Foundations . 11 Greek and Roman Forerunners 11 English Examples 14 Early American Foundations . 17 The Foundation Idea . 18 Types of Foundations . 25 Foundations in Name Only 25 Marginal Types .... 26 Associations and Agencies 26 Foundations in Colleges 27 Foundations in Business and Industry 28 Family Foundations 29 Gifts for Highly Restricted Purposes 29 Community Trusts .... 3i General Philanthropic Foundations . 37 Classification by Method of Work . 38 Organization and Administration 40 Initiation ..... 40 The Board of Trustees 41 Functions of the Board . 44 Administrative Staff . 46 Relations with Grantees . 48 CONTENTS Page Some Financial Questions The American Philanthropic Budget Resources of Foundations Foundation Expenditures Record of the Largest Foundations The Flow of Foundation Funds The Question of Perpetuity Investments .... Social Policy in Investments Taxation .... Fields of Activity The Place of the Foundation . What the Questionnaire Revealed Education .... Social Welfare Health .... Recreation .... Religion .... International Relations . Race Relations Government and Public Administration Economics .... Miscellaneous A Comparison with Earlier Data Some Effects of the Second World War Trends and Possible Developments Some Economic Trends . Expansion of Governmental Agencies New Fields for Exploration Methods of Operation The Question of Public Control The General Prospect CONTENTS 5 PART II DIRECTORIES AND LISTS Page 7. Descriptive Directory 103 8. Classified Listings . .186 9. Geographical Distribution . .199 A Geographical Directory of 505 Foundations . 202 APPENDICES A. Method of the Study 213 B. Bibliography, with Annotations 221 Index 235 charts and illustrations Chart I. 359 Foundations, by Date of Organization . 20 Map. Geographical Distribution of Community Trusts in the United States 37 Chart II. Number of Federal Income-Tax Returns with Net In- come of $1,000,000 or Over, by Years, 1914 to 1942 ... 91 The Foundation Questionnaire 215 6 CONTENTS TABLES Table Page i. Aggregate Capital Assets and Disbursements of Community Trusts, 1921 to 1944 35 2. Capital Assets and Disbursements in 1944 of the Eight Larg- est Community Trusts in the United States .... 36 3. Legal Status of 287 Foundations 41 4. Estimate of Wood, Struthers and Company of the Value of Philanthropic Property and of the Year's Contributions to Philanthropy in the United States in 1932 .... 54 5. Estimate of Current Annual Receipts of Private Philanthropy in the United States 55 6. Analysis of Estimated Aggregate Capital Assets, Total Ex- penditures, and Grants of 505 Foundations in United States in 1944 58 7. Capital Assets, Total Expenditure, and Grants in 1944 for 30 Largest Foundations Reporting Financial Data for Publica- tion 61 8. Capital Assets and Grants of Ten Largest Foundations of 1930 in That Year and in 1944 63 9. Capital Assets and Grants of Foundations Reporting in Suc- cessive Studies, 1930 to 1944 64 10. The Ten Foundations Reporting Largest Expenditure for Grants in 1944 65 11. Income and Yield Per Cent on Investments of the Carnegie Corporation, at Ten-Year Intervals 71 12. Classification of 335 Foundations Reporting Fields of Inter- est for 1944 79 13. Number of Federal Income-Tax Returns with Net Income of $1,000,000 or Over, by Years, 1914 to 1942 ... 90 14. Distribution by States and Cities of Capital Assets of 250 Foundations Reporting This Item in 1944 .... 200 PREFACE THE BROAD purpose of foundations is the distribution of wealth for the public good. This purpose they pursue in widely differing ways, but in general they represent a new and more scientific attitude toward giving, stressing the discovery of facts, education, prevention, correction, and cure as contrasted with relief of individual need. The funds they administer are much smaller than the public assumes; we estimate that in a typical year in the United States, all the foundations together spend somewhat less than three cents of the average philan- thropic dollar. But because foundations are organized solely to do an effective job of giving, and are profiting by cumulative experience, they are often the pioneers in new fields and the leaders of progressive movements, exercising an influence out of proportion to the mere 3 per cent of the budget of private philanthropy which is within their control. This short book on foundations is the outgrowth of a long experi- ence. The Russell Sage Foundation, established in 1907, was one of the earlier foundations. Because its operations have centered chiefly in the field of social work and social welfare, and have included the main- tenance of an extensive research and reference library, the Foundation began as early as 1915 the compilation of bibliographies on, and later of ever-expanding directories of, American foundations. When the time came to revise the 1938 issue of the directory, it seemed to us that a publi- cation which, in addition to listing and describing foundations, would discuss in brief form something of their history, organization, resources, fields of activity, and general trends might be useful to foundation ex- ecutives and boards, and of interest to the general public. The present volume is the result. In addition to the general text, it contains a Descriptive Directory of 505 foundations and is supplemented by classified and geographical list- ings and a bibliography. In our effort to make the Directory as complete 8 PREFACE as possible we have had the generous assistance of a number of organiza- tions and persons, to whom specific acknowledgment is made in Ap- pendix A, Method of the Study. We wish also to express our thanks to the authors and publishers of many books, reports, and articles which are cited within the text; and to the several hundred foundation executives who made this study pos- sible by supplying general and financial information concerning their own organizations. The text of the book is the co-operative product of both authors. We discovered no substantial disagreement. Where value judgments varied slightly, an effort has been made to present both points of view. S.M.H. and F.E.A. February i, 1946 PART I FOUNDATIONS IN AMERICA m THE RISE OF FOUNDATIONS THE FOUNDATION in its broadest sense may be defined as an in- strument for the contribution of private wealth to public purpose. As such it is older than recorded history, and includes many types of organizations besides those we ordinarily think of as philanthropic foun- dations or funds. This study is limited to the foundation in the Ameri- can understanding of the term, meaning a non-governmental, non-profit organization having a principal fund of its own, established to maintain or aid social, educational, charitable, or other activities serving the com- mon welfare. In this more restricted sense the foundation is largely an American social invention, and its chief growth has occurred within the United States during the twentieth century. To understand this very modern and still developing institution, however, it may be well to glance briefly at some of its predecessors. Greek and Roman Forerunners Perhaps the earliest examples of foundations, in the broad interpreta- tion of the term, are the provisions made by individuals or groups in nearly all ancient civilizations for recurring sacrificial feasts in honor of a god, hero, ancestor, or possibly of a donor himself. In such festivals the animals and other foods brought to the sacrifice and dedicated to the one to be venerated were often eaten by the celebrants, thus achieving identifi- cation of the celebrant with the object of his veneration — not unlike the mystical unity of the family which was conceived of as reaching far back from the living to the ancestor and forward from the living to the de- scendants. Sir Henry Maine reminds us that the family, in fact, was a corporation and that it never died.