What is the difference between a foundation and other nonprofit organizations?
Nonprofits. Foundations are part of the larger nonprofit “sector,” which is composed of an estimated 1.4 million organizations and entities with nonprofit status. A nonprofit organization (sometimes abbreviated as “NPO,” or “not-for-profit”) is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals. There are a number of types of nonprofit organizations, including grantmaking foundations, charities, human service agencies, hospitals, universities, chambers of commerce, labor unions, trade associations, and veteran’s organizations. In 2005, the latest year for which complete data are available, the nonprofit sector in the United States held assets upwards of $3.4 trillion and expended more than $1.4 trillion, equaling 11 percent of the national GDP for the year.[1] Foundations. As of 2006, there were over 72,000 grantmaking foundations in the U.S. with total assets of nearly $615 billion and yearly giving of $
