Donations to the Central New York Community Foundation nearly tripled in the last three months of 2010, reflecting an increase in economic optimism, according to a foundation official.
The foundation collected $5.17 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from $1.95 million received in the same period of 2009. The final three months of the year, especially December, is often the busiest time of the year for charities.
“There is some more economic optimism,” said Peter Dunn, president and CEO of the foundation.
Many gifts of stock, real estate and other assets to the foundation are motivated by capital gains. People had more capital gains in 2010 because investment markets improved, Dunn said. The foundation received significant gifts of stock in the fourth quarter, he said. Stock gifts had dried up during 2009, he said.
During the fourth quarter the foundation received 800 individual gifts of cash and stock, up from 570 during the same quarter in 2009 and established 19 new donor-advised, field-of-interest and scholarship funds. The foundation has more than 500 funds that are pooled and invested to grow over time. It is the region’s largest endowed philanthropic foundation.
The foundation’s fiscal year ends March 31. It has collected about $7 million so far this fiscal year, about $1 million more than it collected in the last fiscal year.
“It’s a reminder that people here are charitable,” Dunn said. “That will have an impact on the community as a whole.”
The foundation awards about $5 million a year in grants to nonprofit organizations involved in human services, arts and culture, education, environment, health, economic development and civic affairs. “Our grants budget has been stable over the last several years at a time when a lot of other sources of funding have declined or been under pressure,” Dunn said.
The foundation has given more than $100 million to nonprofits since it was established in 1927. At the same time it manages about $110 million in assets.
Dunn said the foundation’s returns on those assets have improved as investment markets have stabilized.
Original article from syracuse.com
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