🌾Foundation types

Independent foundations are the most common type of private foundation. They are usually funded by an individual, family or group and are sometimes operated by the donor, the donor's family (in these cases, they are called family foundations) or an independent board of trustees.

One example is the Ford Foundation, established in 1936, which provides grants to organizations in the United States, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In total, it has distributed more than $16.3 billion worldwide. Annually, it receives 40,000 proposals and makes approximately 1,400 grants.

Corporate foundations. These are funded by companies and are legally established independently of them, and are operated by a board of directors that generally includes company executives. Companies may establish corporate foundations with endowments, make periodic contributions from their profits, or combine both methods of funding.

Some companies have corporate giving programs, which are made on a corporate basis. It is important to note that many companies have both a foundation and a corporate giving program. One example of a corporate foundation is The Coca Cola Foundation, which donated a total of $273 million between 2002 and 2010. During that same period, the company's total giving (through the foundation and its corporate giving program) was more than $690 million.

Community foundations. These foundations are funded by the members of a community and their support is directed to solving problems in the same community or geographic region. They receive their income from a variety of individual donors who are offered the opportunity to serve as their philanthropic vehicles by establishing an endowment fund without the costs associated with operating a foundation. Community foundations are managed by a board of directors representative of the community.

There are about 700 community foundations in the United States, which manage sinking funds in perpetuity, distributing a percentage of income to the community through grants.

One example is the Arizona Community Foundation, which brings together donors, nonprofit organizations, volunteers and the community to work together to find solutions to community needs through philanthropic contributions. Another example is the International Community Foundation, which serves as a bridge between causes in Mexico and donors in the US. www.icfdn.org

Operating foundations. There is also a type of foundation that does not offer grants and are called operating foundations. Most of the resources of operating foundations go to their own projects.

The Kettering Foundation is an example of this type of foundation. Established in 1927 by inventor Charles F. Kettering, the foundation is an institution that does not make grants but engages in joint research with others. It is an operating foundation with headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, and offices in Washington, D.C., and New York.

Each foundation has different internal guidelines for grantmaking. This means that some receive proposals year-round, others only receive applications during certain periods. Still others issue so-called Request for Proposals or RFPs, and still others only accept applications from organizations they invite to submit a proposal.

DEW will be laying the foundation based on the previous examples and explanations. Although in advance we can mention that the priorities will be education, development of vulnerable communities and assistance in disaster areas (natural or not).