4,29,1946 The New W SOCIAL WORK CUT BY INCOME DECLINE Drop in Investment Yield of Welfare Foundations Cited in 25-Year Report 40% DECREASE SINCE 1933 Return on Funds Down to 2.7 Per Cent, Survey of 505 Agencies Discloses The Russell Sage Foundation is- sued yesterday a report on 505 so- cial welfare foundations in the nation with assets of $1,818,000,- 000. It revealed that the steady decline in yield on investments during the last quarter-century was causing severe curtailment of their philanthropic activities. The report cited as typical of such organizations the experience of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It showed a drop of al- most 50 per cent in twenty years in funds realized from a given cap- italization and a decline of 40 per cent since 1933. Yield on invest- ments dropped from 5.2 per cent in its fiscal year 1922-23 to 2.7 per cent in 949-43. "Common stocks are appearing in increasing percentage in many foundation portfolios," the report said in the first section of a gen- eral survey of social welfare foun- dations, completion of which is ex- pected by the middle of May. "This may represent a reaction against the exceedingly low income now available from high-grade bonds," the report continued, "or it may be a hedge against the pos- sibility of dollar inflation. Current low yields of conservative invest- ments e forcing a fresh consid- eration of the problems of safety versus income and apply a new and severe test to the principal of per- petual endowment." Discretionary Liquidation While many foundations are per- petuities, the report found "a trend in recent years in the direction of allowing at least discretionary liquidation." It said the Duke En- dowment appeared to be the only large foundation that had a current regular policy of accumulation- applying to 20 per cent of income until the accumulation reached $40,000,000. The ten foundations reporting the largest capital assets were listed as follows: Rockefeller Foundation, $189,527,823; Carnegie Corporation of New York, $166,- 506,401; Ford Foundation, $109, 000,000; City Trusts of Philadel- phia, $88,083,541; Hayden Founda- tion, $50,000,000; Kresge Founda- tion, $47,516,062; Kellogg Founda- tion, $46,825,011; Carnegie Insti- tution of Washington, $43,884,844; Commonwealth Fund, $42,934,644; Mayo Properties Association, $28,- 299,596. The report added that the Hershey Fund and the Duke En- dowment also appeared to fall in this asset range, but did not fur- nish financial data. Based on direct information from 265 foundations and esti- mates of 240 others, the Russell Sage report said the 505 groups were spending $72,000,000 a year in direct operations and grants in n the social welfare field.