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Grants-to-Others Expense Ratio

Source: R/get-expenses-grants-ratio.R
get_expenses_grants_ratio.Rd

Total grants paid to domestic organizations, domestic individuals, and foreign entities as a share of total functional expenses.

Formula:

expenses_grants = ( us_org_grants + us_indiv_grants + foreign_grants )
                  / total_expenses

Definitional Range

Bounded [0, 1]. Near zero for direct-service organizations; near 1.0 for pure pass-through grant-makers.

Benchmarks and rules of thumb

  • Subsector comparisons are essential: a 0.80 ratio is expected for a community foundation; the same value would be anomalous for a hospital.

  • Rising ratios over time may indicate a strategic shift toward a more redistributive model.

Calculated For: 990 filers only.

Usage

get_expenses_grants_ratio( df,
  us_org_grants    = "F9_09_EXP_GRANT_US_ORG_TOT",
  us_indiv_grants  = "F9_09_EXP_GRANT_US_INDIV_TOT",
  foreign_grants   = "F9_09_EXP_GRANT_FRGN_TOT",
  total_expenses   = "F9_09_EXP_TOT_TOT",
  winsorize  = 0.98 ,
  range     = "zo",
  sanitize   = TRUE,
  summarize  = FALSE )

Arguments

df

A data.frame containing the fields required for computing the metric.

us_org_grants

Grants to domestic organizations and governments (total).

us_indiv_grants

Grants and assistance to domestic individuals (total).

foreign_grants

Grants to foreign organizations and governments (total).

total_expenses

Total functional expenses.

winsorize

Winsorization proportion between 0 and 1 (default 0.98).

range

Character string specifying the theoretical range of the ratio, used to set winsorization bounds. Default "zo". Options: "np" (negative to positive), "zp" (zero to positive), "zo" (zero to one), "nz" (negative to zero), or a custom "lo;hi" pair (e.g. "0;10").

sanitize

Logical (default TRUE).

summarize

Logical (default FALSE).

Value

The original data.frame with four columns appended: expenses_grants, expenses_grants_w, expenses_grants_z, expenses_grants_p.

Details

Primary uses and key insights

The grants-to-others ratio measures the share of total expenses paid out as grants to other organizations, individuals, or foreign entities. It is the defining characteristic of grant-making and pass-through organizations - foundations, federated funders, and community chests - where the primary activity is resource redistribution rather than direct service delivery.

Formula

(Domestic org grants + domestic individual grants + foreign grants) / total expenses. Note: US organization grants (line 1) are PZ scope; other components are PC scope.

Canonical citations

  • Frumkin, P. & Keating, E.K. (2001). The price of doing good. Policy and Society, 20(4), 94-112.

Variables used:

  • F9_09_EXP_GRANT_US_ORG_TOT: Grants to domestic organizations (us_org_grants)

  • F9_09_EXP_GRANT_US_INDIV_TOT: Grants to domestic individuals (us_indiv_grants)

  • F9_09_EXP_GRANT_FRGN_TOT: Grants to foreign entities (foreign_grants)

  • F9_09_EXP_TOT_TOT: Total functional expenses (total_expenses)

Variables used:

  • F9_09_EXP_GRANT_US_ORG_TOT: Grants to domestic orgs (us_org_grants)

  • F9_09_EXP_GRANT_US_INDIV_TOT: Grants to domestic individuals (us_indiv_grants)

  • F9_09_EXP_GRANT_FRGN_TOT: Grants to foreign entities (foreign_grants)

  • F9_09_EXP_TOT_TOT: Total functional expenses (total_expenses)

Examples

library( fiscal )
data( dat10k )
d <- get_expenses_grants_ratio( df = dat10k )
#> Error in resolve_col(dt, us_org_grants): None of the specified columns were found in the data: F9_09_EXP_GRANT_US_ORG_TOT
head( d[ , c( "expenses_grants", "expenses_grants_w", "expenses_grants_z", "expenses_grants_p" ) ] )
#> Error: object 'd' not found