Growth of Oregon Foundations

This chart shows the growth of Oregon’s largest foundations over roughly the past 3 decades. These are the foundations most likely to make large and multi-year grants. It demonstrates some major trends.

• The foundations are growing, mostly through the increase in value of their investments. For comparison, look at the Dow Jones average at the bottom of the chart.
• Newer foundations are being created, and some older ones receiving sizable contributions, adding to the total funds available.
• Private foundations are required by the IRS to make grants equal to 5% of their assets annually. So these foundations together would make approximately $173 million in grants in 2009.