Private Foundation Funds Work To Improve Building Quality
The Charles Pankow Foundation has a small pile of gold it hopes to spin into building design and construction improvements. The private foundation, which funds about six new research projects annually, expects to give out $1 million in the next year to support new and ongoing projects. “We fund research that moves innovative [nonproprietary] solutions to problems from the red zone to the end zone,” says Robert K. Tener, the foundation’s Claremont, Calif.-based executive director.
Builder Charles Pankow started the foundation in 2002 to “inspire new and better ways to build.” Pankow, who died in 2004, left much of his estate to fund the foundation. In 2007, it had $42.8 million in assets.