Grantmakers in the News
December 1, 2003
Increase in Number of South Florida Foundations Since 1996
Nearly 670 new foundations have been created in South Florida since 1996, including 330 - representing
$885 million in assets - in Palm Beach County alone, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Palm Beach County has the
greatest number of new foundations of any county in the state, and Miami-Dade County has the largest amount of assets held
in new foundations. New foundations in Palm Beach County made $55 million in grants, and those in Miami-Dade County made
over $62 million in grants. Combined, the new foundations in these two counties distributed 90% of the new foundation grant
dollars in the region.
According to Profiles of South Florida Donors, 2003-2004, a survey commissioned by the
Donors Forum of South Florida, the growth in
philanthropic assets in Palm Beach County was bolstered by the creation of five new healthcare conversion foundations,
including the Quantum Foundation, which has assets of $151
million and was formed with proceeds from the sale of the nonprofit JFK Medical Center in
Atlantis. In Broward County, the largest new philanthropic organizations - including the Jerry
Taylor and Nancy Bryant Foundation, the Chen Family Foundation, and the Avellino Family
Foundation - are all family-based and boast combined assets of more than $33 million.
"When you see the new foundations in South Florida, most are being formed because someone has
died, wealth is being transferred," said Deborah Bussel of Bussel Philanthropy Associates, which
conducted the study for the Donors Forum. The study argues that the growth of philanthropic
assets in the region is evidence that the so-called intergenerational transfer of wealth, in
which, nationally, an estimated $41 trillion to $136 trillion is expected to be passed on by
2052, has begun.
The study also found that new foundations in the region are keeping more of their grant dollars
(38 percent) in Florida, compared to older foundations (25 percent), and are awarding more money
to health, education, and the arts, at the expense of human services and religion.
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