About
A Letter From the Chair and President
On behalf of the trustees of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, we wish to explain key decisions the trustees made during a recent meeting that will affect the Fund’s 2009 grantmaking. The value of the Fund’s endowment, like those of all endowed institutions, dropped significantly during the final quarter of 2008. Prudent management of our financial resources requires us to modify some grantmaking programs.
To preserve our competitive grantmaking budget, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund trustees have decided to expend a minimum 6% of the Fund’s value in 2009. Please know that Federal law requires all private grantmaking foundations to expend a minimum of 5% of the value of the endowment. This bold decision to overspend the required minimum payout will allow us to continue to make new competitive grants in 2009 totaling $5 million, in line with what we have expended annually in this decade.
Secondly, the trustees decided to fulfill all grant payments made in past years under our competitive grants program. In any given year, half of our competitive grants are made on a multiyear basis, meaning that we have committed in future years, on average, $3.5 million in grant payments. We will meet all of those obligations.
Third, we have adopted a flat administrative budget and will endeavor to trim these costs wherever possible, without compromising our ability to manage your grant requests in a timely fashion, make site visits to your organizations, and bring you together in a spirit of collaborative learning when possible.
Fourth, we have reduced the four initiatives designed and directed by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund (the small liberal arts college initiative, the independent schools initiative, the nonprofit organizations initiative, and the religion initiative) by $1 million. In any given year, we have expended $3.2 million in support of these programs. Going forward, we will not expend more than $2.2 million through these programs. Details on these changes will be provided to those organizations impacted by the changes.
We are fully cognizant that the precipitous decline in all markets, complicated by reduced public spending at the state and local level, and the economic recession have hurt the financial position of all Jessie Ball duPont Fund organizations. Our financial position likewise has been hurt. We are extremely proud of the initiatives that we designed in the early 1990s and proud of the results. We do not make these cuts carelessly. We believe deeply that the decisions we recently made will help us continue to fund your organizations while eliminating programs that do not provide the greatest benefit possible.
Please accept our personal best wishes as you also lead your organization through the tough terrain ahead.
Sincerely,
Sherry P. Magill
President
Leroy Davis
Chair for the Trustees