PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Foundation distributed $34.8 million across the state last year, a record for the foundation, according to its annual report.
Founded in 1916, the Rhode Island Foundation is the state’s only community foundation and the largest funder of its nonprofit sector.
The nonprofit foundation reported net assets of $747.4 million in 2014, a 1.4 percent increase over 2013’s net assets of $736.7 million. In 2013, the foundation grew its net assets by 16 percent. Over a 10-year span, its assets have grown by more than 300 percent; in 1993, total assets were $197 million.
Total liabilities last year were $63.4 million, a 13 percent increase from 2013. Combined, total liabilities and assets total $810.8 million, a 2.2 percent increase compared with 2013.
According to a letter accompanying the report from foundation President and CEO Neil D. Steinberg and Chairman Frederick K. Butler, donors last year supported job training, healthy meals for those in need and a coordinated approach to planning for climate change, among other causes and projects.
Community organizations received $34.8 million in grants to 1,491 recipients, with the education sector receiving the largest chunk of the money at $8.8 million, followed by the children and families sector, $6.5 million, and health, $5 million. Donors contributed $33.7 million.
“More than 70 donors started new funds, and 39 people pledged a portion of their estate, ensuring that their philanthropic legacies will last forever,” they wrote.
The report stated that the foundation’s investments had an average return of 3.9 percent last year, and that its endowment returns “consistently rank” in the top third compared with its community foundation peers.
The five-year rate of return was 9.6 percent and 10-year, 7.1 percent, outperforming the median investment return.
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