How many "Private Foundations" are there in the United States?
How many of the "Private Foundations" are ?Family Foundations??

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Clarification of Question by clicker5-ga on 03 Jul 2005 16:38 PDT

I posted this questiuon on 7-1-05.
Why has it not been answered?

Hello again, clicker5!

I am sorry that your question slipped through the cracks. I worked on
it for a while, then broke off to post an answer to another question.
When I returned to your question, another Researcher had locked it,
and I busied myself elsewhere.

I hope the information that I have gathered will meet your needs.
Estimates found online vary considerably; this is the kind of
statistic that tends to be difficult to enumerate; some estimates seem
more like wild guesses. The sources which I deem to be the most
reliable are GuideStar and The Foundation Center, both of which
conduct surveys and use IRS records when compiling figures, and
GrantSmart, which offers a database compiled from tax records.

=====================
 PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS
=====================

"GrantSmart.org 
A project of Canyon Research with support from the J.C. Downing
Foundation, GrantSmart.org serves grantseekers, philanthropic
organizations, and individual donors by providing an informational and
interactive resource center for and about the nonprofit community. The
Web site has data about private foundation activities, philanthropic
organizations, and individual donors, and features a searchable
database of tax-related information for more than 60,000 private
foundations that file Form 990 with the IRS, including information
from key fields within each tax return."

The Foundation Center: Links to Nonprofit Resources
http://fdncenter.org/research/npr_links/npr02_fund.html

"A Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF is not available for every nonprofit
organization. Only about one-third of the nation's more than 640,000
public charities - those with incomes of more than $25,000 per year -
are required to file the 990 or 990-EZ. About 60,000 private
foundations file the 990-PF."

GuideStar: June Survey
http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/junesurvey_financials.jsp

If you wish to include private charitable trusts:

"This database currently contains 499,260 tax returns filed by 96,717
private foundations and charitable trusts. The data is supplied to us
in raw form by the IRS and is updated on a continuing basis. Our most
recent update contained tax returns filed in April 2005. These tax
returns are by law, public records."

GrantSmart: About Us
http://www.grantsmart.org/grantsmart.php

====================
 FAMILY FOUNDATIONS
====================

"The Foundation Center has identified more than 32,600 independent
foundations with measurable donor or donor-family involvement. These
'family foundations' represent more than half of all independent
foundations and account for similar shares of independent foundations?
giving, assets, and new gifts and bequests from donors. If all of the
nation?s family foundations could be identified, these shares would
undoubtedly rise.

Family foundations are not legally distinct from other independent
foundations, requiring the Foundation Center to identify them using
several objective and subjective criteria. These criteria include
independent foundations with 'family' or 'families' in their name, a
living donor whose surname matches the foundation name, or at least
two trustee surnames that match a living or deceased donor?s name,
along with any independent foundations that self-identify as family
foundations on annual Foundation Center surveys."

The Foundation Center: Key Facts on Family Foundations
http://fdncenter.org/research/trends_analysis/pdf/key_facts_fam.pdf

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These were the search strings that brought me the best results:

Google Web Search:"1000..100000 private foundations in the US OR united"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%221000..100000+private+foundations+in+the+US+OR+united

Google Web Search: "1000..100000 family foundations in the US OR united
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%221000..100000+family+foundations+in+the+US+OR+united

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Hope this helps! Please let me know if anything is in need of clarification.

Very best regards,
pinkfreud

Hi pinkfreud:
I was delighted when you answered my question about Private Foundatons.
In the past you have answered and made comments on several of my questions.
And as usual your answer rates a strong 5 stars.
Thanks again:      clicker5-ga