April 22, 1999 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Giving by the nation’s grant makers grew by 22 per cent from 1997 to 1998, according to a new study by the Foundation Center.
In 1998, grant makers gave an estimated $19.46-billion to non-profit organizations, up from nearly $15.98-billion the previous year, according to the center, which is located in New York. The 1997 total represents a 16-per-cent increase over 1996 giving, which was $13.81-billion.
Last year’s figures are projections based on data provided to the Foundation Center by 1,000 grant makers, including private, corporate, and community foundations. Figures from previous years are based on fiscal records from more than 44,000 organizations.
According to a separate Chronicle survey of the nation’s largest private foundations (The Chronicle, February 25), the biggest grant makers set the pace for last year’s gains. Among 122 of the wealthiest foundations, total giving increased 28 per cent — from $4.86-billion in 1997 to $6.24-billion in 1998.
The 142 foundations in the Chronicle‘s survey allocated $7.7-billion in 1998 — accounting for about 40 per cent of the total amount of grants reported by the Foundation Center.
Both surveys give credit for last year’s giving spurt to the growth in the value of foundation assets from 1996 to 1997. Private foundations are required by law to give away at least 5 per cent of the average value of the previous year’s assets. Thus while grant makers did not give away a greater proportion of their endowments than before — the private foundations continued to award about 5.5 per cent of the previous year’s assets, according to the center — they simply had more money to donate to charity.
Contributing to the endowment gains, according to the Foundation Center: a healthy stock market, large new gifts from donors to their foundations, and the creation of new foundations.
Among private foundations, including many family funds, the total value of assets grew more than 24 per cent — from about $227-billion in 1996 to $283-billion in 1997, the center found. Giving from 1997 to 1998 grew at about the same rate, rising $3-billion to $15.4-billion.
New gifts accounted for a jump in assets at community foundations, which collect money from a variety of donors and typically award grants to charities in a specific region. According to the center, gifts and bequests from donors to community foundations totaled $2.2-billion in 1997, up 21 per cent from the previous year.
The endowments of corporate foundations rose too — by 15 per cent from 1996 to 1997 — as did the total number of such funds. The nation now has more than 2,000 corporate funds, the center reports.
The total number of foundations is also growing, the center says, doubling from 22,088 to 44,146 since 1980. Many of the newest grant makers, according to the center, are family foundations that expect to receive the bulk of their assets over the next 15 years.
More information about the center’s study will be published in the 1999 edition of Foundation Giving: Yearbook of Facts and Figures on Private, Corporate and Community Foundations.
Copies of the book will be available in July from the Foundation Center, Department NW32, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York 10003-3076. The cost will be $24.95, plus a shipping fee of $4.50.
Credit-card orders can be placed by calling (800) 424-9836 or (212) 807-3690, or by using the on-line order form available at http://fdncenter.org.
