Fisher House (Hatboro, Pennsylvania)
The foundation of the home is built entirely of stone in, for Kahn, a traditional style of building. The stone foundation was necessary due to the home’s placement on a slope and its need for a solid anchoring into the ground of the site. The exterior and interior portions of the home are made from the same cedar wood sourced from the local Pennsylvania area. This was done to keep down costs. The woodwork of the Fisher house is often viewed as the most comprehensive of any of his woodwork during the period. Later projects were said to lack the continuity of the Fisher House, often smaller details such as interior doors were left unadorned in a way that left the project feeling incomplete to viewers. It was best in the end that Kahn was not allowed to build from all stone, because if he had the home would have been lacking in much of the great detail work that makes it so famous. The use of cedar wood throughout the interior and exterior of the home compelled Kahn to create amazing details in the building simply by folding windows into the building envelope to provide new habitable space on both the interior and exterior of the building. Had Kahn been left to build the Fisher House entirely from stone on the exterior then the details he created from windows never would have come into existence.
Private foundation (United States)
A private foundation is typically set up as a non-profit corporation that bears the name of its donors, but may alternatively be established as a trust. Donors specify the charitable purpose of the foundation (example: grants for cancer research, scholarships for the needy, support of religious goals) . During their lifetime, they may continue their charitable giving by making tax deductible contributions to the foundation. The foundation may also be funded with a bequest from the donors' will or trust or receive funds as the primary or secondary beneficiary of a qualified plan or IRA.The IRS reports that there were 115,340 private foundations in the U.S. in 2008, of which 110,099 were grantmaking (non-operating) and 5,241 were operating foundations. Approximately 75% of the private foundations file annually with the IRS.