How big is the Bloomberg Family Foundation, the private foundation established in 2006 by New York City's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg?
According to an item in today's New York Post, the foundation, which released its most recent tax filing on Friday, had assets of $2.7 billion at the end of 2010 (making it the eigthteenth-largest foundation in the country). New York's other tabloid, the Daily News, also looked at the filing and reports that the mayor gave more than $360 million in 2010 to the foundation and that it paid out $108 million in grants to eleven entities (a payout rate of 4 percent).
The mayor, the Daily News notes, also gave more than $190 million out of his own pocket to charitable causes in 2010 (including $20 million for "advocacy-related initiatives").
What's curious about the Post's item is its claim that Bloomberg plans to spend down the foundation's corpus by December 21, 2026. Indeed, the article quotes Mike Marinello, a Bloomberg spokesperson, as saying, "That was the date picked by the mayor." But the item itself says the foundation, which employs at least ten current or former city employees and supports efforts in the areas of education, the environment, global health, and arts and culture, will close its doors in December 2026 -- "or five years after the death of the mayor or his daughters, Emma and Georgina, which ever came later." Confusing, no?
The mayor will turn seventy in February. Emma is thirty-two and Georgina is twenty-eight. Barring any surprises, it sounds to me like the Post got it wrong and that the foundation will be around for decades to come.
-- Mitch Nauffts
