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A couple of years ago, the Haas, Jr. Fund decided to refocus our grantmaking on initiatives and organizations that advance and protect fundamental rights and opportunities for all. Whether the issue is immigrant rights, gay and lesbian rights, or improved educational opportunities for young people (all Haas, Jr. Fund priorities), the stakes could not be higher. This is about people’s lives, their freedoms, their ability to enjoy all that our country has to offer.
It is because of the high stakes that the Haas, Jr. Fund remains steadfastly committed to the work we do. At a time when the effects of the Great Recession continue to be felt throughout the nonprofit sector (and throughout our communities and all of American society as well), we want to assure our grantee partners that we continue to stand by them. The bottom line: we are committed to maintaining our grantmaking budgets in our priority areas of immigrant rights, gay and lesbian rights, education, and nonprofit leadership support.
The Fund’s trustees have made this commitment despite the fact that our assets, like those of virtually every other foundation in the country, took a major hit in the recession. The combination of reduced assets and our trustees’ commitment to stay the course in our work in priority areas means we’re currently making grants at a higher level than required. While foundations are expected to spend 5% on grant and administrative costs together, the Haas, Jr. Fund’s Trustees decided years ago to make 5% in grants only the baseline for our grantmaking. At more than $25 million, our annual grants budget in 2010 was equal to 5.4 percent of the foundation’s assets.
Giving more than 5% of our assets annually will begin to erode our long-term endowment. But given the urgency of the issues that our grantees are working on, the Fund’s trustees feel one of our top priorities is to support our grantees now as they continue the struggle for equal rights and opportunities for all.
Does this mean that the Haas, Jr. Fund is spending itself out of business? In a word, no. The Fund has been doing this work for nearly 60 years, and we are determined to ensure that we can continue to make a difference in our local community and beyond for years and decades to come. We may be a smaller foundation than we once were, but we remain committed to providing long-term support to the causes we care about.
