The value of the assets belonging to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation rose by about 6.5% last year to $656 million, up from $616 million in 2016. BRAF released the unaudited financial figures to donors and members at its annual meeting on Wednesday.
The foundation attributes the assets rising value to the strength of the stock market and the foundation’s real estate portfolio, which is managed by Commercial Properties Realty Trust, and are mostly controlled by donors. Earlier this month, CPRT reached an agreement to transfer Bon Carré on Florida Boulevard back to its lenders.
A spokesman for BRAF says half of the foundation’s assets are in real estate. The foundation’s many properties include the Onyx Residences, 525 Lafayette, OneEleven Lofts, the Center for Coastal and Deltaic Solutions and Coastal Protection Restoration Authority building on the Baton Rouge Water Campus.
BRAF manages charitable funds on behalf of its donors, which includes investing the money, handling the paperwork, providing advice on issues and nonprofits, and measuring the impact of grants.
Donors contributed $47 million to their charitable funds in 2017, the foundation says in a statement. BRAF granted $46 million to nonprofits last year, about $9 million less than in 2016.
Also on Wednesday, BRAF elected four new board members to their first terms. They are Charles Lamar III, chief executive of Woodlawn Investments and president of the Charles Lamar Family Foundation; Todd S. Manuel, director of organizational health and diversity for Entergy Corp; Jennifer Eplett Reilly, cofounder of the News Schools for Baton Rouge; and Nick Speyrer, president of Emergent Method. Â Donna D. Fraiche, who founded the New Orleans and Baton Rouge offices of Baker Donelson, was elected to a second, three-year term.
