Private foundation
A tax-exempt organisation funded from one source — a family, an individual, a company — that makes grants rather than raising money. It must distribute a minimum share of its assets each year and it files a 990-PF, which is why its giving is unusually visible.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called Independent foundation · Family foundation
In detail
The annual payout requirement is the reason foundation money is more predictable than it looks: a foundation with assets has to give, and roughly how much is a function of what it holds rather than of how a year went.
Many accept no unsolicited applications at all. A foundation that gives every year and invites nothing is a real pattern and a common source of wasted effort.
Against a public charity
A public charity draws support from many sources and is usually a grant seeker. A private foundation is funded from one and is a grantmaker. Our `type` column on a funder records which kind of grantmaker a body is, taken from the filing rather than inferred from its name — plenty of organisations called "Foundation" are public charities.
How GrantTrove stores it
- Funder records carry `type`, `ein` and the giving figures from the filings we have connected, with `data_year` and `data_source` beside every figure.
- Where we hold no filing for a funder, the profile says so rather than showing a zero. A zero would assert the foundation gave nothing.
Common questions
Do all private foundations accept applications?
No. Many give only to organisations they approach themselves, and their filings still show the giving.
How current is the giving data?
It is as current as the filing, and every figure is shown with the year it describes in `data_year`.
Is a family foundation different?
It is a private foundation with family involvement in governance. The rules are the same.