I have heard about “Supporting Organizations” – how are they different from private foundations?
A Supporting Organization (SO), also known as a Supporting Foundation, is a philanthropic vehicle created under the umbrella of existing public charity or charities such as the National Philanthropic Trust. It is a public charity that must be closely tied to at least one other public charity. SOs are similar to private foundations in that they can be created and funded by a single individual or family, have a board of directors. However, SOs enjoy public charity status because they actively function in a supporting relationship to one or more other public charities, and the SO needs to have a compatible mission with the other charity/charities which it is associated. By contrast, private foundations can make grants to any public charity or carry out other direct charitable activities themselves. Unlike a private foundation, the donor cannot ultimately control a supporting organization. There are three basic types of supporting organizations (NPT only works with Type 1 Supporting Organi
