為了深入瞭解台灣地區基金會之資源狀況、組織功能，以及與政府、市場部門介面之關係，在2001 年，由蕭新煌及喜瑪拉雅研究發展基金會的江顯新執行長共同發起，邀請國內七位研究非營利組織的學者專家參與，針對台灣的基金會從事全面性調查研究。該研究的目的為：一、建立台灣的基金會資料庫，以供未來研究之用。二、根據本普查結果建立之資料庫做初步的統計分析，對基金會的內部治理、外部活動予以概括性描述。該調查研究的母群體為台灣地區的2,918 家基金會，回收的問卷共有571 份，經詳細檢查回收問卷，剔除無效之問卷，有效問卷為420 份問，占母群體的14.4%。本文乃根據該調查數據的一部份做出基礎性的分析，特別針對台灣基金會運作的四個主要議題予以闡述：(1) 組織的基本特質資料、(2) 治理、(3) 人力資源、(4) 財務，以及 (5) 外部環境的連結。

To delve into the funding, the function and interaction with government and market of foundations, a comprehensive survey project on foundations in Taiwan in 2001 was carried out by seven scholars and experts on NPOs. The project aims to establish the database of the foundations in Taiwan for further research, to conduct initial statistical analysis with the survey data and to have a general view on the internal management and external activities of the foundations. The population of the survey included 2,918 foundations in Taiwan, and the returned questionnaires were 571, of which 420 were valid. And the return rate amounted to 14.4%. Based on the result of the survey, we focus the analysis specifically on the following issues of the foundations in Taiwan: (1) basic data, (2) governance, (3) workforce, (4) finance, and (5) external environment.