A first-of-its-kind Chronicle analysis puts data behind the longstanding concern that large foundations are elite, insular, and out of touch with average Americans.
At the 20 wealthiest national foundations, which control $162 billion in assets, plenty of board members have degrees from top private universities, but only a handful few live in rural or poor parts of the United States.
The analysis, which examined the gender, race, education, and residence of 232 foundation trustees, found that:
- More trustees have Harvard degrees (52) than live in the “flyover states” (51).
- Only one of the 232 trustees lives in one of the five states with the highest poverty rates.
- 81 percent have graduate degrees.
- 40 percent have Ivy League degrees.
The Chronicle also examined racial, ethnic and gender diversity on the boards. It found that 72 percent of trustees are white, while 63 percent are male.
See the full report here. Below are the 20 foundations in our analysis. To see the data about a board, click on the grant maker’s name; you can also click on up to three foundation names to see the information on multiple boards.
To see data for any single foundation, unclick the name of the foundation you were previously reviewing.
You may only compare three foundations at a time. Please click a selected foundation to de-select it, and then choose another.
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Assets:
Board Members:
Race/Ethnicity
Asian
Black
Latino
White
Other
Location
East
Interior
West
International
Education
J.D.
M.B.A.
M.D.
Ph.D.
Ivy League*
INTERNATIONAL
* Ivy League attendance includes either graduate or undergraduate.
The Chronicle analyzed the board makeup of the 20 largest foundations in the country, based on 2014 asset size as reported by the Foundation Center. Community and regional grant makers were not included.
Twelve foundations provided The Chronicle with information on the gender, race, ethnicity, education, and residence of their trustees. Some also provided data about board members’ ages.
For trustees at the foundations that would not provide the information, The Chronicle relied on public sources, including published biographies, networking sites such as LinkedIn, and campaign-contribution records filed with the Federal Election Commission. If a trustee’s residence could not be determined, we used the primary place of work most recently available.
The Chronicle was unable to collect all the information for eight of the 232 trustees currently holding seats at the 20 foundations.