Report // An Evaluation of Community Foundation Investment Returns & Payout Rates
As a leadership organization that puts equity at the center and is committed to creating space for reflective conversation, the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF) continues to ask: Have the market forces and growth in philanthropy — and growth in Michigan philanthropy, specifically — changed enough to warrant an increase in the 5% rule for private foundations?
In 2020, CMF partnered with the Johnson Center and Plante Moran Financial Advisors to deepen and expand past research exploring the 5% payout rate to help answer this question, building on the learnings of previous studies they’ve commissioned over the past 20 years.
In March 2021, CMF launched An Evaluation of Community Foundation Investment Returns & Payout Rates, phase two of the payout rate research series, focusing on payout rates of community foundations statewide and nationally, as well as in comparison to their private foundation peers.