Understanding and Measuring Endowment in Public Charities
本文梳理非营利组织持有捐赠基金的不同动机，分析文献中的定义与衡量方法，并详述2008年以来Form 990中新增的捐赠基金数据。超过43%的组织报告拥有捐赠基金，其中绝大多数由高等教育非营利组织持有；约三分之一的捐赠基金无限制，41%为永久限制。
This note delineates different motivations for holding endowment by nonprofits, analyzes the definitions and measurement of endowment in the literature, and details newly available data on endowment contained in the Form 990 since 2008. More than 43% of organizations report owning an endowment, and the overwhelming majority of endowment funds are held by higher education nonprofits. One third of endowment funds are unrestricted and 41% are permanently restricted, with heterogeneity across subsectors. Endowed nonprofits exceed average payout rates each year of 5%. Annual endowment payouts average 4.1% of total organizational expenses, which measures the sector’s dependence on endowment revenue for operations. We evaluate past endowment measurement approaches using actual endowment data and find wide variation in validity. Although still imperfect, the new endowment data allow researchers to better understand a key distinguishing financial feature of the nonprofit sector.