“Foundations are very long-term vehicles that are established with a particular funding goal in mind.” Schweser Bk2, p95. “Endowments are legal entities that have been funded by a donor for the expressed purpose of permanently funding some desired activity.” Schweser Bk2, p165. “A particular funding goal” could be “permanently funding some desired activity”, so aren’t Foundations and Endowments the same based on definition?
different regulations - check the min. spending rates for each and you should get your answer as to the main difference you care about for the exam.
yes, I know about the different regulations, but in terms of the structure (i.e., definition), they are basically the same animal? In another words, they can exist for the same purpose?
Yah they can exist for the same purpose. Both are not-for-profit entities that are used to make grant appropriations to all sorts of different things. Endowments usually want to keep their original investments and only grant the investment returns. Foundations typically grant investments + returns. Also, Foundations might be set up by a single family/donor. For example, you might have the HAAS Foundation which is funded by the HAAS family and wants their donations to go ONLY to Israel. Endowments usually have multiple donors, do multiple fund-raising from both public and private, and typically support multiple organizations through their grant appropriations.
Endowments are usually set up for educational institutions …foundations could be for anything .