February 16, 2016; Philadelphia Inquirer

NPQ has often advocated for foundations to consider higher payout rates, taking up the issue in some detail in Buzz Schmidt’s classic, “‘Deliberate Deployment’ or Perpetuity: Questions to Inform Timing Strategies for Philanthropy.” Since then, we have seen a number of foundations moving to deploy more of their assets in the here and now—if not by “spending down” more quickly, then by investing more of their full assets in mission-related activity. But Schmidt also suggests that foundations consider a set of questions in a more “deliberate deployment” strategy, and that is what we see in this story.

Two influential leaders in the Philadelphia area philanthropic community passed away this past January: Patricia Kind and Harold Taussig. The foundations they created, the Patricia Kind Family Foundation and the Untours Foundation, are memorializing their legacy through increased grantmaking. Together, foundation leaders are asking other foundations to join them in giving away more than the five percent required by law.

Throughout Patricia van Ameringen Kind’s long life, she supported some of the most vulnerable. She was trained as a nurse, and this training influenced her philanthropic support of those living in poverty in her community. She and her husband founded the Patricia Kind Family Foundation in 1996 to support the needs of Philadelphia’s poor. The foundation recognizes the essential work of smaller nonprofits by focusing its giving on organizations with budgets under one million dollars.

A day after Mrs. Kind’s death, another of Philadelphia’s most generous leaders, Harold E. Taussig, passed away at the age of 91. Mr. Taussig never forgot his roots as a small-business owner and entrepreneur. He was one of the first to see the value of offering vacationers the opportunity to stay in apartments instead of hotels. Through his Untours Foundation, he provided low-interest loans to startup businesses and other enterprises to create economic opportunity to alleviate poverty throughout the world. Since its inception, the foundation has made more than $7 million in low interest loans.

Although their methods differed, Mr. Taussig and Mrs. Kind shared a dedication to those living in poverty. To memorialize their generosity, the foundations they created are reaching out throughout the philanthropic community, asking other foundations to dedicate more of their resources toward alleviating poverty and underwriting second chances.

Foundations are only required to give away five percent of their assets to maintain their tax-exempt status. Administrative expenses, including staff salaries, are eligible to be included in that five percent, so even less than five percent of their assets may be given in grants each year. Leaders of the Patricia Kind Family and Untours Foundations are advocating for a different use of resources.

“The standard foundation structure of using only 5 percent of foundation assets to address a foundation’s mission is a waste of 95 percent of its assets,” said Elizabeth Killough, director of the Untours Foundation. “On top of not addressing mission, that 95 percent is often invested at cross purposes to the foundation’s mission.”

As the divide between rich and poor continues to expand, will these foundations’ efforts toward building a movement to spend more of their assets on the work of social change catch on?—Gayle Nelson