The CCSF report is the field’s most comprehensive and authoritative study on investment and governance policies and practices. The 2017 CCSF studied over 220 private and community foundations that represent over $104 billion in assets.
Research
The Council on Foundations conducts national research with partners on grantmaker board and staff composition and compensation, diversity and inclusion, and investment performance and practices for the benefit of the philanthropic field. The following research publications will help grantmaking organizations benchmark policies and practices against peers in the field, as well as insights into the operational and investment practices of the U.S. foundation and corporate giving program landscape.
In-Depth knowledge on Research
This report provides salary, benefits, and diversity data for full-time staff at U.S. foundations to aid in budget planning and personnel practice benchmarking.
The 2017 Salary Tables provide salary data for full-time staff at U.S. foundations and corporate grantmakers. Information is presented by grantmaker type, foundation type, asset size, and geographic location.
The CCSF report is the field’s most comprehensive and authoritative study on investment and governance policies and practices. The 2016 CCSF studies over 200 private and community foundations that represent over $100 billion in assets.
This report examines the demographics of the philanthropic sector, looking back over five and ten years, with a specific focus on the representation of women and people of color. The data has been sourced from the Council’s Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey, representing a rich set of data points from more than 1,000 grantmakers, including data on nearly ten 10,000 full-time paid professional and administrative positions.
The 2016 Full Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report offers the most comprehensive information in the field of grantmaking on compensation levels and salary administration.
The 2016 Administrative and Program Expense Tables provide foundations with tools to benchmark their expenses – charitable administrative, program service, and qualifying distributions – against peers in the field. Containing data collected through the Council’s 2016 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey, this report offers detailed breakdowns of the data by grantmaker type, staff size, geographic location, and asset group (note – this report does not examine fees associated with fund administration at community foundations).
The 2016 Board Compensation Tables provide foundation board and staff with the tools they need to benchmark their board compensation policies and practices against peers in the field. This report contains data collected through the Council’s 2016 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey and presented by foundation type, asset group, and U.S. Census region.
The 2016 Salary Tables provide aggregate information on staff salaries among U.S. foundations and corporate giving programs.
The Council on Foundations-Commonfund Study of Responsible Investing, believed to be the largest of its kind, provides foundations with invaluable insights into how the sector and individual portfolios are being shaped by responsible investing practices, potential hurdles to their adoption, and what the entry points are for those interested in fully engaging these practices in their endowment strategies.