Impact of the financial crisis
Some foundations make big commitments to combat effects of crisis despite falling assets
Many grantmakers have lost nearly a third of their assets in the recent stock market plunge, according to a Chronicle of Philanthropy survey. For the 57 grantmakers that provided financial data for 2007 and 2008, endowments declined a median of 29 per cent. Some, with investments in bankrupt or hard-hit companies, have fared much worse. The New York-based Starr Foundation, which held a significant portion of its portfolio in American International Group stock, lost $1.7 billion – almost 57 per cent of its assets.
Impact of the financial crisis
Foundation to increase grantmaking in 2009, according to Bill Gates’ first Annual Letter
The downturn will last a few years, but ‘innovation in every field – from software and materials science to genetics and energy generation ... will help improve the world and reinvigorate the world economy’. That’s the view of Bill Gates, expressed in a public letter about the Gates Foundation’s work. Although the Foundation saw the value of its assets fall by roughly 20 per cent in 2008, Gates said it will increase the dollar amount of its grantmaking in the coming year, from the $3.3 billion it gave in 2008 to $3.8 billion.
