Renz, Loren, and David Wolcheck, 2009. Perpetuity or Limited Lifespan: How Do Family Foundations Decide? New York: Foundation Center. While awareness of lifespan planning options has grown, research on this topic has been sparse. To answer the basic question of how many active foundations are planning to spend down or exist in perpetuity (or have not yet made a decision), and to examine foundations’ motivations and decision-making, the Foundation Center, in collaboration with the Council on Foundations, launched a study of family foundations in 2008. This report presents the study’s findings, which are based on survey responses from 1,074 family foundations.
