Most U.S. foundations seek to preserve the money that funds their grants and operations for the long term. They accomplish this by not giving away more money than they earn as returns on the assets held in their endowments.
By law, foundations must give away or spend on their operations a total of at least 5% of what they hold in endowments every year. In practice, foundations spend more than that on their total grants and expenses – around 8% of their assets in 2018, for example.
