At Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, we look beyond the limits of perpetuity and spend down. Instead, we ask ourselves: how can our resources respond to the need and opportunity of the moment? Our endowment is a tool, and our payout, investments, governance, and fiduciary duty all work together in service of our mission.
MRBF has repeatedly moved beyond standard payout in moments of crisis and opportunity. When the market fell in 2009, we suspended our spending policy through 2011 rather than pulling back when grantees needed us most. In 2020, we spent 13.46% to respond to COVID, and in 2021 we doubled our spending again. Today, we’ve extended our 11% payout commitment through 2031, knowing it may reduce our endowment. Our first commitment remains to our people, not the money.
New York Foundation and Marguerite Casey Foundation, led by Rickke Mananzala and Carmen Rojas, PhD , have called this approach the #TidalFoundation. We’re proud to be featured among the “growing swell” of funders rethinking fiduciary duty and expanding the possibilities of stewardship: Richard Tate of The California Wellness Foundation, Vivian Tseng of the Foundation for Child Development, Deepak Bhargava of Freedom Together Foundation, Kevin Walker of Northwest Area Foundation, George Suttles of Suttles Scherman Foundation, Jamie Allison of Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Michelle M. of Woods Fund Chicago, and Aaron Dorfman of National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
Read our CEO Flozell Daniels, Jr.‘s full interview here: https://cep.org/blog/a-growing-tide-creating-new-channels-for-change/
