The Foundation Center

By Cheryl Gage

Graduate Student, Grand Valley State University (Fall, 2005)

Definition

The Foundation Center’s mission is to strengthen the nonprofit sector by advancing knowledge about U.S. philanthropy (GuideStar 2005).

To accomplish this mission, the Foundation Center collects, organizes and communicates information on U.S. philanthropy. Additionally, it conducts and facilitates research on trends in the field, as well as provides education and training on the grantseeking process (GuideStar 2005).

The Foundation Center is listed by GuideStar as a 501(c)(3) public charity and coded “T19” under the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (N.T.E.E.). This code designates the Center as a “Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking” organization of the “nonmonetary support type, not elsewhere classified” (GuideStar 2005).

Historic Roots

The Foundation Library Center was founded primarily in response to the “unfriendly” congressional investigations of foundations during the early 1950s. Foundation representatives called to testify at congressional hearings found a lack of available foundation information, which inspired the revolutionary idea of Carnegie Corporation trustee, Russell Leffingwell, that “foundations should have glass pockets.” In 1956, John Gardner of the Carnegie Corporation joined other foundation leaders to launch the Foundation Library Center as that “glass pocket” for the field (Kirkman 1995).

As the first Foundation Center Library President, F. Emerson Andrews, predicted, “The Center will provide a convenient place where any person may find accurate information about foundations,” and it attracted 1,400 visitors its first year. It also opened its first Cooperating Collection in Chicago in 1959. The Center’s Foundation News and Foundation Directory publications were started in 1960 and the Center’s first field office opened in Washington, D.C. in 1964. The organization officially changed its name to the Foundation Center in 1967 (Foundation Center 2005).

During the 1970s, the Center computerized its foundation data, and its publications began covering all private foundations. Cooperating Collections existed in every U.S. state by 1978 and “depth of service” became the Center’s focus during the 1980s and early 1990s. It established a research department, issued first editions of several new publications, and initiated new programs for grantseekers (Foundation Center 2005).

Today, the Foundation Center has offices in five U.S. cities, as well as Cooperating Collections in nearly 220 communities nationally. The Center also enlarged philanthropy information access through the technologies of its Web site, launched in 1994, and its CD-ROM publications (Foundation Center 2005).

Importance

The Center is “the nation's leading authority on philanthropy and dedicated to serving grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public” (Foundation Center 2005). Tracking 60,000 grantmakers, and logging over 14,000 visitors per day to its comprehensive Web site, the Center believes its own growth over the last 49 years “mirrors the growing significance of philanthropy in American life” (Foundation Center 2005).

The Center was also set up to be a vehicle for foundation accountability. It encourages foundation reporting, inclusiveness, and information currency (Kirkman 1995).

Ties to the Philanthropic Sector

The Foundation Center programs directly support the nonprofit sector, by greatly expanding general accessibility to the funding and philanthropic information that is crucial to grantseekers and organization developers (Foundation Center 2005).

The Center’s public service program, which includes its Library / Learning Centers, connects grantseekers, grantmakers, and others to resources and educational programs. The Center maintains and operates a network of five professionally-staffed library / learning centers in New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Cleveland and Atlanta, all of which are open to the public and free of charge (Foundation Center 2005).

The Center’s research program studies foundations and their giving. It analyzes its own database to create studies on the field, and collaborates with others on studies of specific areas. The Center gives the public access to field statistics, providing “FC Stats” as a free online service. Its tables present data on all U.S. independent, corporate, community foundations (Foundation Center 2005).

The Center’s data collection program maintains a unique electronic database, and it contains information on virtually every active grantmaking foundation in the U.S., including IRS Forms 990 and 990-PF of private foundations, public charities and other nonprofits (Foundation Center 2005).

Finally, the Center also publishes books, CD-ROMs and Online Directories, ranging from comprehensive reference works to basic primers on fundraising and nonprofit management. In 2003, the Center published almost 50 titles, including its print and electronic products (GuideStar, 2005).

Key Related Ideas

The Foundation Center upholds five key beliefs: philanthropy is vital to our democratic society; transparency and accountability are key to earning public trust; knowledge about philanthropy starts with accurate information; access to accurate philanthropy information advances responsible and effective use of philanthropic resources; and grantmaker and nonprofit effectiveness is enhanced through sharing of information and understanding (Foundation Center 2005).

Six key ideas behind the Foundation Center practices are: high quality service delivery; mission fulfillment through partnerships; preservation of credibility through independence and objectivity; use of innovation and technology to maximize effectiveness; employee appreciation; and fiscal responsibility as a means to achieve their mission (Foundation Center 2005).

Important People Related to the Topic 

• Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919): Carnegie is best known as an outstandingly successful industrialist of the mid-1800s, as well as a major philanthropist (Wikipedia 2005). Carnegie was a Scottish-American businessman who made his fortune in steel and, at the height of his career, he was the second richest man in the world (Wikipedia 2005). Carnegie is also remembered as one of the first of his socioeconomic class to publicly state, “the rich have a moral obligation to give away their fortunes” (Carnegie Corporation 2005). Carnegie’s prominent and life-long interest in libraries (Carnegie Corporation 2005), led to “the establishment of public libraries in the United States, the United Kingdom, and in other English-speaking countries” (Wikipedia 2005). Carnegie also “created seven major philanthropic and educational organizations in the United States, including the Carnegie Corporation of New York” (Carnegie Corporation 2005). In support of Carnegie’s desire to provide everyone with “a means of self-education” through free libraries (Carnegie Corporation 2005). 
  
  
• John Gardner (1912-2002): Gardner was the ninth president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Carnegie Corporation 2005). He joined with other foundation leaders of the time to establish the Foundation Center Library in 1956 (Kirkman 1995).

Related Nonprofit Organizations

• Carnegie Corporation of New York is a grantmaking foundation that “aims to do real and permanent good in this world" (Carnegie Corporation 2005). Despite its “misleading and corporate-sounding name,” its mission is to “promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding" (Carnegie Corporation 2005). Carnegie Corporation leadership played an instrumental part in the establishment of the Foundation Library Center (Kirkman 1995).

Related Web Sites The Foundation Center’s comprehensive website at www.fdncenter.org serves Web users by making many of its databases and publications accessible electronically. The site literally places valuable grantmaking information and Foundation Directory Online at one’s fingertips.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s website at www.carnegie.org provides its annual report, philanthropic news, and links to related foundation resources. It also features its online publication, the Carnegie Reporter, at www.carnegie.org/reporter/index.html.

Bibliography and Internet Sources

Carnegie Corporation of New York. Transparency and Accomplishment: A Legacy of Glass Pockets. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.carnegie.org/sub/about/pessay/pessay02-03.html.

Carnegie Corporation of New York. John Gardner—Remarks by Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.carnegie.org/sub/docpublications/gregorian.html.

Foundation Center. 1956 – 1970: Building a Tradition. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.fdncenter.org/history/test1.html.

Foundation Center. 1971 – 1981: Growing to Meet a Need. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.fdncenter.org/history/test1.html.

Foundation Center. 1982 – 1993: Developing Depth of Service. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.fdncenter.org/history/test1.html.

Foundation Center. 1994 – 1998: Expanding Access to Information on Philanthropy. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.fdncenter.org/history/test1.html.

Foundation Center. 1999 – 2001: Expanding our Services. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.fdncenter.org/history/test1.html.

Foundation Center. About the Foundation Center. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.fdncenter.org/about/
;jsessionid=KINLEWJOTEUNXTQRSI4CGXD5AAAACI2F.

Foundation Center. Highlights of the Foundation’s 45 Years of Service. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.fdncenter.org/history/test1.html.

GuideStar. Basic Report. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?npoId=615070.

Kirkman, Larry. “A Conversation with Sara Englehardt.” Foundation News & Commentary, 36, no. 4, (1995): 18-22. In ProQuest [database online]. Cited 28 November 2005. Available from Grand Valley State University Library.

Wikipedia. Andrew Carnegie. Accessed 7 December 2005. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie.