ABSTRACT
Policies as to the actual programs of any foundation fall naturally into certain classes. Problems of financial policy are alike, whatever may be the purpose of the foundation. The granting of fellowships is a natural and important element in foundation policy and will be dealt with more fully later on. Few foundations which publish their grants have the courage to help a man or a cause via an institution of uncertain financial or academic solidity. Certainly the bulk of recent criticism of foundation policies has been directed against what the writers believe to be the dangers attending the exercise of such power. Some foundations apparently prefer to take the entire responsibility—and perhaps the glory—for any line of activity, whereas others seem to prefer to share both, particularly in enterprises involving possible social criticism. The foundations reply that they limit their endowment grants to institutions having, humanly speaking, the certainty of permanence.
