Companies and Foundations Give $1-Billion for Katrina Aid

Foundations and companies contributed more than $1-billion in cash and goods for relief efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a new report has found.

The report was prepared by the Foundation Center, a New York organization that conducts research and provides other services to aid grant seekers.

Corporate and foundation gifts account for about 14 percent of the total that private sources donated for hurricane relief efforts.

In June, Giving USA estimated that about $6.5-billion had been donated by individuals as well as grant makers.

Corporations provided $519-million, while foundations provided $388-million in cash, the Foundation Center reported. The rest of the money came from donated products and services.

Giving Priorities

Several donors dominated the giving. Three companies each gave at least $24-million: Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Starkey Laboratories.

Ten private grant makers accounted for 55 percent of total foundation giving. Four foundations each donated more than $28-million: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Companies tended to direct their support to immediate needs after the hurricanes struck, while foundations channeled most of their money into long-term recovery efforts, the Foundation Center said.

Among the other key findings:

• Geographic location. Corporations and foundations in five Southern states (Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia) provided nearly 22 percent of the money awarded by grant makers. Eighty-three percent of the money went to organizations outside of Louisiana and Mississippi that arranged for relief and recovery. The American Red Cross, in Washington, received 22 percent of the money provided by grant makers.
• Top priorities. Forty percent of the money committed by foundations and companies went to human-services groups and general relief and recovery efforts.
• Religious groups. Faith-based organizations were given more than one-fifth of the money provided by corporations and foundations.

A copy of the report, “Giving in the Aftermath of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes: Update on the Foundation and Corporate Response,” is available free online.