DONATIONS SURGE AT FOUNDATION
But lack of big donor left total short of 2015
The Pittsburgh Foundation, a community foundation that funds critical needs and other causes in the region, said it raised nearly $45 million last year and handed out 22 percent more in grant money than it did in 2015.
The foundation, which has assets of about $1 billion, said it distributed $43 million in grants last year, up from $35 million in 2015.
The total $45 million in donations it received compares with a total $50 million raised in 2015.
Despite a dramatic surge in year-end giving after the November election, last year’s total donations were lower than in 2015 when the foundation received a $15 million gift from Richard Hunt, an heir to the Alcoa fortune, and his wife, Priscilla. That gift was the largest made by living donors in the foundation’s history.
The largest single gift from an individual in 2016 was $3 million.
Last year, “There was no mega-gift, no home run per se, so to raise almost $45 million against the backdrop of significant political and market turmoil is an outstanding testament to the generosity of Pittsburghers,” said Yvonne Maher, senior vice president for development and donor services.
During the last two months of 2016, donors’ concerns about how tax laws that impact charitable giving might change under the administration of President Donald Trump helped fuel contributions, the foundation said.
Cash donations in the last four weeks of the year jumped to $18 million from $10 million during the same time in 2015.
“Our speculation is that people waited until after the election to assess potential tax implications of a change in administration and chose donor-advised funds so they could take an immediate tax deduction,” said Ms. Maher.
Donor-advised funds are administered by public charities but allow donors to suggest where their money goes.
During the election campaign, President Trump proposed capping future tax deductions, including deductions for charity, so some donors saw contributions to donor-advised funds with an immediate tax break as less risky.
There were 49 new donor-advised funds created at the foundation last year.
Issues other than tax law changes also drove strong donations late in the year, said Maxwell King, the foundation’s president and chief executive.
He believes donors were reacting to concerns about potential cuts in state and federal funding for human services.
“There’s a growing recognition that aiding vulnerable populations is vitally important in our current political climate, both nationally and locally,” he said.
To that end, the foundation in 2015 launched 100 Percent Pittsburgh, an initiative that addresses why large segments of the region’s population live at or below the poverty line.
The foundation said it directed 60 percent of its discretionary grantmaking to charitable programs in the 100 Percent Pittsburgh initiative including grants that benefit at-risk youth and single women with children.