Most nonprofits lack a true endowment and endowment wealth is concentrated in a relatively small number of organizations and subsectors. This study supports an operational definition of material endowment, equal to or greater than annual expenses, and investigates how common it is for a nonprofit to establish a meaningful endowment over time. Specifically, we address whether the sector's enthusiasm over the potential of endowment building is reflected in charitable organizations' experiences. Using financial data, we find that building a meaningful permanent endowment is a rare achievement among public charities over a period of two decades. Meaningful endowment creation, achieved by less than 2% of the sample, is more common for organizations with donor attachments, the need for subsidization of mission services, those with more fundraising costs, and those with more donative revenue portfolios.

中文翻译：

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从零开始：公共慈善机构建立有意义的捐赠基金

大多数非营利组织缺乏真正的捐赠，捐赠财富集中在相对较少的组织和子行业中。这项研究支持物质捐赠的运营定义，即等于或大于年度支出，并且调查了非营利组织随着时间的推移建立有意义的捐赠的普遍性。具体而言，我们要探讨慈善组织的经验是否反映了该行业对捐赠能力的热情。利用财务数据，我们发现建立有意义的永久性捐赠是二十年来公共慈善机构罕见的成就。在只有捐赠者依恋，需要对特派团服务进行补贴的组织中，只有不到2％的样本就能实现有意义的捐赠创造，这种情况更为普遍。