A private foundation is a legal entity set up by an individual, a family or a group of individuals, for a purpose such as philanthropy or an object legal in the economic operation. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the U.S. with over $38 billion in assets. However, most private foundations are much smaller and approximately two-thirds of more than 84,000 filing with the IRS in 2008 have less than $1 million in assets and 93% have less than $10 million. In aggregate, private foundations in the U.S. control over $628 billion in assets and made more than $44 billion in charitable contributions in 2007.
Unlike a charitable foundation, a private foundation does not generally solicit funds from the public.
Not all foundations engage in philanthropy. Private foundations are often used for estate planning purposes.
Read more about Private Foundation: Description, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words private and/or foundation:
“Private faces in public places
Are wiser and nicer
Than public faces in private places.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“If all political power be derived only from Adam, and be to descend only to his successive heirs, by the ordinance of God and divine institution, this is a right antecedent and paramount to all government; and therefore the positive laws of men cannot determine that, which is itself the foundation of all law and government, and is to receive its rule only from the law of God and nature.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)