May 15, 2008 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Fifty-four percent of foundations expect giving to increase in 2008, while 28 percent project a decrease this year, according to a study released by the Foundation Center.
The report said the economic turmoil that has caused trouble for some foundation investments does not appear to have had any major effect on giving plans for this year.
The biggest foundations — those that make grants of $10-million or more — are the most likely to increase giving in 2008, the report found.
The study found that grant making by the nation’s 72,000 foundations grew by 10 percent in 2007, totaling nearly $43-billion. That is on top of a 7.1-percent increase in 2006, according to the Foundation Center, a research organization in New York.
Community foundations increased their giving more than any other type of grant maker, giving away nearly 14-percent more last year than in 2006. Independent foundations increased giving by 13 percent, while grants by corporate foundations rose by more than 6 percent.
$43-Billion Awarded
Total grant dollars given by all U.S. foundations climbed from $16-billion in 1997 to nearly $43-billion in 2007, after adjusting for inflation, the report found. Further, among all types of foundations, community foundations reported the fastest cumulative growth in giving in the same period, seeing a 166-percent increase in giving from 1997 to 2007.
The report found that a strong growth in foundation assets, along with the establishment of new foundations, contributed to the increased giving. The assets of American foundations grew 9 percent from 2006 to 2007, to nearly $670-billion.
While the number of foundations has increased steadily over the past two decades, the report found that the rate of increase in 2006 was just 2 percent — less than the 5-percent growth seen in 2005. And, for the first time since 1999, the number of corporate foundations fell by 2.3 percent in 2006.
The report also found that 1,080 foundations, or about 1.5 percent of grant makers, ended their operations in 2006, similar to the share that shut down in 2000.
The Foundation Center surveyed 1,240 foundations and examined year-end economic indicators to come to the conclusions reached in the report.
Corporate Giving
In a separate study whose results were released last month, the Foundation Center examined giving by corporations.
The study found that the nearly 2,600 corporate foundations gave an estimated $4.4-billion to charity in 2007. More than half of those foundations expect giving to increase in 2008.
Among the report’s other findings:
- In 2006, the most recent year for which data were available, one-quarter of all dollars given by corporate foundations went to education. Human-service charities and public-affairs groups each received about one-fifth of all grant dollars.
- Though it has nearly doubled since 1990, corporate giving continues to grow at a slower rate than overall foundation giving, and in 2007 made up 10 percent of all foundation giving, down from 17 percent in 1990.
- Nearly 30 percent of corporate foundations expect to reduce their giving in 2008.
The top five corporate foundations, by total giving in 2006, were the Aventis Pharmaceuticals Health Care Foundation, in Bridgewater, N.J.; the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, in Charlotte, N.C.; the Wal-Mart Foundation, in Bentonville, Ark.; the GE Foundation, in Fairfield, Conn.; and the Citi Foundation, in New York.
“Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: Current Outlook (2008 Edition)” and “Key Facts on Corporate Foundations” are available online.
