Foundation (engineering)
Foundations are designed to have an adequate load capacity depending on the type of subsoil/rock supporting the foundation by a geotechnical engineer, and the footing itself may be designed structurally by a structural engineer. The primary design concerns are settlement and bearing capacity. When considering settlement, total settlement and differential settlement is normally considered. Differential settlement is when one part of a foundation settles more than another part. This can cause problems to the structure which the foundation is supporting. Expansive clay soils can also cause problems.
Private foundation (United States)
However, some scholars, such as, Silk and Lintott (2002) argue that even though private foundations offer a number of tax benefits, taxes are not a sufficient reason to create a private foundation. Given some charitable intent on the part of the founder, there are several substantial financial and personal benefits to creating a foundation. Using the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation as example, Eckl (2014) discusses the fact that private foundations have the power to shape global social and health policy. He argues that adding monetary resources and supplementary goodwill to existing global efforts is not the only goal of private foundations, rather it is still likely that they pursue a partisan agenda.