Some donors may desire that the sun never set on their philanthropic giving. For others, however, spending down a foundation—either during their lives or soon after death—is a crucial element of ensuring that their giving matches their intentions. Donors considering sunsetting a foundation have many questions: Why do other donors decide to do it? How will outstanding grantees survive when my foundation closes? Whom should I select as board members? What mistakes in sunsetting can I avoid? What should my time frame be? At our 2012 Annual Meeting, a panel of three spend-down experts—Joel L. Fleishman, Ingrid Gregg, and Frances Ostrower—will address practical questions about spending down as a means of protecting donor intent.
To learn about the sessions and speakers at the 2012 Annual Meeting, visit our Annual Meeting page, or to register now for the event, click here.
The Philanthropy Roundtable is committed to preserving, strengthening, and celebrating the principle of donor intent. To that end, we publish a range of materials, from practical, how-to guides for living donors to principled justifications of donor intent. The Roundtable’s latest guidebook, Protecting Donor Intent, presents some practical considerations for choosing a timeframe for donating your assets to charity, and our online Donor Intent Resource Library provides a collection of resources that explore the topic of spending down vs. perpetuity.