MacArthur - The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

 

Financial Information


In 2006, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation paid out $234.9 million in grants and program-related investments* to organizations and individuals in the U.S. and internationally to help improve the human condition. Actual cash paid out varies from year to year depending on payment schedules of larger grants.

To focus its grantmaking and increase its impact, MacArthur has reduced the number of grants while increasing the size of the average grant. In 2006, the Foundation authorized 465 grants to organizations. The average size of grants was $432,000.

MacArthur’s charitable administrative costs totaled $28.1 million in 2006, about 10.7 percent of total charitable expenditures.

* Program-related investments are below-market loans and equity investments to support charitable activity.


Investment Summary

The Foundation invests for the long term with the objective of earning a real rate of return, net of expenses, sufficient to fund its charitable giving and operations. The underlying principles of the Foundation’s investment approach may be summarized as follows:

  • The Foundation maintains a broadly diversified portfolio with allocation to a variety of asset classes, both public and private.
  • The broad diversification, combined with rigorous analytical research, is intended to enable the Foundation to manage risk so that it can perform well in strong markets while protecting against substantial capital loss in weak markets.
  • The Foundation seeks to achieve strong net returns over time at a cost comparable to other institutions with similar asset allocations.
  • The Foundation’s net returns have been strong over various periods of time as demonstrated below.

MacArthur’s investment portfolio had a return of 18.04 percent in 2006 net of investment management costs.

The Foundation's most recent audited financial report and tax return (990-PF) are available online at www.macfound.org under "About the Foundation" or by contacting the Chief Financial Officer, Marc Yanchura, at (312) 726-8000 or 4answers@macfound.org