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Foundation Support for Water-related Issues Growing

March 23, 2012 Comments off
In recent years, the number of U.S. charitable foundations awarding grants for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) projects around the world has more than tripled. A new research brief by the Foundation Center, Foundation Funding for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, finds that between 2003 and 2010 this growth in the number of active funders was accompanied by a nearly five-fold increase in the number of organizations receiving these grants, to the tune of $144 million in 2009-2010. And, while WASH funding as a proportion of international grantmaking overall has grown from 0.2 percent in 2003, it remains very small (1.7 percent in 2010).

Full Report (PDF)

Giving by U.S. Family Foundations Recovering Slowly

February 13, 2012 Comments off
Source:  Foundation Center

America’s family foundations contributed more than $20 billion in 2010 to organizations and people working for the public good, but total giving did not reach its pre-recession peak of $21 billion in 2008. According to the Foundation Center’s latest edition of Key Facts on Family Foundations, the 1.1 percent increase in family foundation giving between 2009 and 2010 marks a reversal of the previous year’s 3.4 percent decline.

Among other key findings in the report:

    • Family foundations account for the majority of giving by independent foundations overall (63 percent in 2010).
    • One-third of all family foundations were established in the 2000s.
    • Education is the top funding priority of family foundations located in the Northeast, Midwest, and South, while health accounts for the biggest share among Western family foundations, largely due to the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Key Facts on Family Foundations identifies 38,671 independent foundations with measurable donor or donor-family involvement. The fact sheet examines giving by issue area, type of support, population group served, and geographic location. It also details differences in the size of the boards of family foundations.

Full Report (PDF)

New Research on Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos: In the United States and for Latin America

December 14, 2011 Comments off
Source:  Foundation Center

Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support benefiting Hispanics and Latinos has held steady, comprising about one percent of total foundation funding, even as the Hispanic population in the U.S. has grown significantly over the same period. According to Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and for Latin America, released by the Foundation Center in collaboration with Hispanics in Philanthropy, total grant dollars targeting Latinos in the U.S. between 2007 and 2009 averaged about $206 million per year, while funding for Latin America averaged roughly $350 million per year. Human services (27 percent) and health (26 percent) captured the largest shares of grant dollars awarded for Latinos in the U.S. Of the grants targeting Latin America, Mexico and Brazil received the largest shares.

Among other key findings in the report:

  • The top 10 funders awarding grants for Latinos in the U.S. from 2007 to 2009 accounted for close to 40 percent of grant dollars.
  • Recipient organizations in the Western region of the United States received the largest share (42 percent) of foundation dollars intended to benefit Hispanics. Over 80 percent of this funding went to organizations in California.
  • The largest share of grant dollars for Latin America was for the environment and animals (33 percent), followed by international affairs (20 percent).
  • Roughly half of funding for Latin America went directly to recipient organizations located in Latin America, while the other half was awarded through U.S.-based international programs.
Full Report (PDF)

Foundation Support Declined in 2009 for Most Major Funding Areas

October 15, 2011 Comments off

Foundation Support Declined in 2009 for Most Major Funding Areas
Source: Foundation Center

In the wake of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, foundation funding declined across eight of 10 major subject areas, among a matched set of funders. According to Foundation Giving Trends (2011 Edition), released by the Foundation Center, the environment and animals category experienced the largest decline in 2009, followed by the social sciences. Support for education and public affairs/society benefit experienced some gains.

Among the nearly 1,400 foundations whose 2009 grantmaking was analyzed for the report:

  • Funders awarded 186 grants of $10 million or more, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation providing five of the 10 largest, mainly for health and education.
  • Education accounted for the largest share of 2009 grant dollars, followed by health, human services, and public affairs/society benefit.
  • International giving, including support for overseas recipients and U.S.-based international programs, accounted for nearly 24 percent of overall grant dollars.
  • Among specific populations, the economically disadvantaged benefited from the largest share of both grant dollars (29 percent) and grants (25 percent).

+ Highlights (PDF)

Charity Fundraising Results See No Change in First Half of 2011

September 29, 2011 Comments off

Charity Fundraising Results See No Change in First Half of 2011
Source: Foundation Center

As the fourth quarter of 2011 begins — typically the most important time of year for fundraising — fewer than half of surveyed nonprofits reported fundraising increases during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010.

According to a report released today by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), of 813 responding nonprofits surveyed in July:

  • Forty-four percent reported increases in charitable contributions received through June, compared with the same period in 2010;
  • Twenty-five percent reported giving remained level;
  • Thirty percent reported charitable contributions have declined so far this year; and
  • One percent did not know.

These numbers are barely changed from the NRC 2010 year-end survey, when 43 percent of respondents indicated they raised more money in 2010 than they did in 2009. At that time, almost a quarter (24 percent) saw giving remaining level, and 33 percent raised less.

These results indicate that nonprofit organizations still face a difficult fundraising climate. In the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ (AFP) 2007 State of Fundraising Survey, which asked the same questions as the 2011 NRC study, 65 percent of respondents raised more money that year, before the recession, than in 2006. Eleven percent raised about the same, and 24 percent raised less.

+ Full Report (PDF)

Moving Education Reform Forward: Grantmakers Reflect on a Convening with State and Local Government Education Leaders

July 13, 2011 Comments off

Moving Education Reform Forward: Grantmakers Reflect on a Convening with State and Local Government Education Leaders
Source: Foundation Center

This issue brief provides critical insights into how education grantmakers (and foundations in general) may be able to work more effectively with state and local education leaders. Based on interviews with participants at a national gathering convened by the Council of Chief State School Officers in January 2011, it offers a nuanced assessment of this type of convening, including the challenges that face grantmakers and education leaders in their work to coordinate future efforts effectively.

Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples

May 5, 2011 Comments off

Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples (PDF)
Source: Foundation Center
From e-mail:

Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support explicitly benefiting Native Americans declined from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of total foundation giving. According to Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples, released today by Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) and the Foundation Center, total grant dollars targeting Native Americans dropped 30.8 percent in the latest year, compared to a 12.4 percent overall downturn in foundation giving. Although the number of foundation grants benefiting Native Americans remained far more consistent during much of this period, grant dollars were down more than 10 percent from 2008 to 2009.

“Only a small number of U.S. foundations target funding for the direct benefit of Native Americans,” said Steven Lawrence, director of research at the Foundation Center. “This report documents the current reality and offers specific ways that other grantmakers might become engaged.”

Other key findings of the report include:

  • The top 10 funders for Native Americans in 2009 accounted for close to 60 percent of grant dollars.
  • Education received the largest share of foundation giving for Native Americans in 2009.
  • Most foundation funding for Native Americans in 2009 supported organizations not affiliated with tribal governments.
  • Recipients located in three of the country’s seven major regions (Northeast, Midwest, and Southwest) captured more than two-thirds of grant dollars benefiting Native Americans in 2009.
  • Eight of the top 25 recipients are Native-led or for the exclusive benefit of Native Americans.

Foundation Center Releases Updates on Corporate and Community Foundations

April 27, 2011 Comments off

Foundation Center Releases Updates on Corporate and Community Foundations
Source: Foundation Center

The Foundation Center has released the new 2011 editions of its essential fact sheets on corporate and community foundations. These brief reports provide critical statistics on the resources and giving priorities of these distinct types of U.S. grantmakers.

Key findings from the reports include:

  • Corporate foundation giving remained nearly unchanged in 2010
  • 2010 saw the first consecutive-year decline in community foundation giving recorded by the Center.

“Community foundations were more affected by the recent economic downturn than corporate foundations,” said Steven Lawrence, director of research at the Foundation Center. “Nonetheless, both corporate and community foundations provided critical resources during this difficult time.”

Findings presented in Key Facts on Corporate Foundations and Key Facts on Community Foundations come from the Foundation Center’s tracking of fiscal and programmatic information on the nation’s more than 76,000 grantmaking foundations; annual surveys of leading grantmakers; and analyses of the giving patterns of almost 1,400 of the nation’s largest foundations.

Also available is Key Facts on Family Foundations, which updates grantmaking and fiscal characteristics of family foundations through 2009. These reports can be downloaded at no charge at foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge.

Foundation Giving Held Steady in 2010

April 8, 2011 Comments off

Foundation Giving Held Steady in 2010
Source: Foundation Center

The country’s more than 76,000 grantmaking foundations gave an estimated $45.7 billion in 2010, virtually unchanged from 2009. According to Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates (2011 Edition), released today by the Foundation Center, 2010 giving remained just 2.1 percent below the record high of $46.8 billion awarded by foundations in 2008, despite the fact that foundation assets were still close to 10 percent below their 2007 peak.

More than 45 percent of respondents to the Foundation Center’s annual “Foundation Giving Forecast Survey” indicated that they had reduced their funding in 2010, but the actions of other grantmakers buoyed the field. “Foundations provided stability for nonprofits during a time of crisis,” said Bradford K. Smith, president of the Foundation Center. “Many made extraordinary efforts to maintain their giving levels, while other, often newer foundations even increased their giving.”

Other key estimates for 2010 include:

  • Independent and family foundations — which represent the vast majority of U.S. foundations — reduced their giving by less than 1 percent to $32.5 billion in 2010.
  • Corporate foundation giving remained basically unchanged at $4.7 billion
    in 2010.

  • Community foundation giving dipped 2.1 percent to $4.1 billion in 2010, the first consecutive-year decline on record.

+ Full Report (PDF)

Key Facts on Social Justice Grantmaking

April 5, 2011 Comments off

Key Facts on Social Justice Grantmaking (PDF)
Source: Foundation Center

According to Key Facts on Social Justice Grantmaking (2011 Edition), social justice giving accounted for more than 14 percent of grant dollars awarded by the largest U.S. foundations in 2009. The top 25 social justice funders gave 70 percent of the total in the latest Foundation Center’s annual grants sample.

Key Facts on Family Foundations

February 8, 2011 Comments off

Key Facts on Family Foundations (PDF)
Source: Foundation Center
From e-mail:

America’s family foundations gave $20.3 billion in 2009, a 4 percent decline from the previous year, according to the Foundation Center’s new report, Key Facts on Family Foundations (2011 Edition). Although this was one of the larger drops in giving by family foundations tracked by the Center, the decline in 2009 could have been worse.

Among other key findings in the report:

  • Family foundations accounted for the bulk of giving by independent foundations overall (62 percent).
  • One-third of all family foundations have been established in the 2000s.
  • Education was the top funding priority of family foundations located in the Northeast, Midwest, and South, while health accounted for the biggest share among Western family foundations, largely due to the Seattle, WA-based Gates Foundation.

Key Facts on Family Foundations identified 38,701 independent foundations with measurable donor or donor-family involvement. The fact sheet examines giving by recipient type, type of support, population group served, and geographic location. It also details differences in the size of the boards and staff of family foundations.

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