Powered by nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in donations over the last decade, as well as a significant return on its investments, the Rhode Island Foundation continued to make a major impact on the state’s philanthropic landscape in 2009, according to its just-released annual report.
The foundation granted a record $27.6 million last year to more than 1,000 Rhode Island organizations, comprising directed giving by endowments for which the foundation is a custodian, as well as grants from its own funds.
Receiving the most money were organizations in the human services category ($7.79 million), followed by education ($5.82 million) and health ($5.3 million), although the foundation said it has taken a special interest in education and health care funding, both of which it characterizes as “two key economic drivers for our state,” said Neil Steinberg, the foundation’s president and CEO. “To that end, we have already begun to increase our activities in both [areas], including policy advocacy, fundraising and leadership.”
In June 2009, the foundation committed $1.6 million in grants specifically for primary health care. The Fund for a Healthy Rhode Island, with a $20 million endowment (established in late 2007 from a settlement with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island for its role in an influence-peddling scheme at the Statehouse), is the foundation’s largest health care fund.
The Rhode Island Foundation also has supported efforts to bring Teach for America to the area, having made a three-year, $300,000 commitment to establish a Rhode Island chapter. Steinberg led the fundraising campaign to obtain the remaining $2.4 million needed to establish a local Teach for America presence, which will see participants in the program in Providence public schools and the Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley charter school.
Additionally, Steinberg is active in the state’s efforts to win $75 million in federal funds through the Obama administration’s 2010 Race to the Top competition for educational reform, serving on the steering committee for Rhode Island’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 applications. He also was scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C., last week for the state’s presentation to the U.S. Department of Education. For its part, the foundation provided the R.I. Department of Education with a $75,000 grant for the project.
According to the 2009 annual report, the foundation saw the value of its investments gain 20.6 percent in the year ended Dec. 31 – a significant recovery following a 27 percent decline in the foundation’s investments during 2008.
Bill McCarron, a principal for the investment consulting firm Prime Buchholz, said that the median growth seen by endowments, pension funds and other institutional assets for the year ended Dec. 31 was 18.4 percent, and estimated that the foundation’s performance landed it in the top third of its peer group.
The fair value of The Rhode Island Foundation’s investments grew to $476.61 million from $409.01million a year earlier, while net assets were valued at $491.63 million, a 14.73 percent increase over 2008.
The foundation also saw operating expenses climb 4.1 percent year-over-year, with the increase due to enhanced programming, such as additional workshops, meetings and assistance to local nonprofit organizations. As a result, the foundation ended the year with an increase in net assets from operations of $1.6 million, a decline from the $4.8 million it added to net assets after operations in 2008. •
