Fees

The Foundation is currently reviewing its fee policy in response to the impact of the global economic downturn and the greatly increased need to support the organizations that are providing vital services to our community.

Maintaining the Foundation operations is now largely funded directly from generous donations to the Foundation Operations Fund.  Contributions to the Foundation Operations Fund make it possible for many of our other funds (the funds that support community grants) to have no-load, which means that 100% of the donation supports our local non-profits.  We are extremely proud of our ability to do business this way, especially in a world in which most non-profits take at least 4% and many take over 20% off the top of each donation.

Donations to endowed funds, which are invested with The Seattle Foundation, will continue to experience the investment management fees charged by The Seattle Foundation.  These charges total just under 2% of the balance annually.

If you are a donor, we hope that you will consider an annual gift to the Foundation Operations Fund.  That money gets the highest leverage, as it enables a wide variety of programs to directly benefit our community.