May 22, 2013 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Grants for operating support are increasing quickly, according to a new study that found that such support grew by 83 percent in 2011 over the average of the preceding three years.
Operating support accounted for 24 percent of all grants in 2011, up from 16 percent in 2010.
Those are key findings from a series of four studies, by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, which analyzed 1,127 of the largest foundations’ multiyear and operating-support grants, based on data provided by the Foundation Center, as well as the grants they made to groups that serve the needy and minorities.
The committee also found that:
• Grants to groups that serve poor people and minorities increased slightly in 2011 to 42 percent of total grants made, up from a 40-percent average from 2008 to 2010. But a lot of that money came from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. When its grants are excluded, the number of grants to aid the poor and minorities fell to 31 percent of all grants.
• Five percent of foundations provide at least half of their awards in the form of multiyear awards, while only 10 percent make such grants at all.
• Family foundations, grant makers in the southern United States, and foundations that give away $5-million to $10-million annually were the most likely to provide operating-support grants.
Didn’t Meet Standards
The committee conducted the studies to see how well grant makers were doing in meeting a set of standards it issued in 2009 as it sought to urge them to do more to help the poor and give money with fewer strings and with more long-term commitments.
The committee said it was especially disappointed by the figures on help for the needy. “Unless grant makers intentionally prioritize vulnerable communities, they risk reinforcing disparities instead of mitigating them, undermining their own efforts,” the committee’s report said.
While the committee recommends that foundations set aside at least 25 percent of their grant-making dollars for “social-justice philanthropy” aimed at structural changes that increase opportunities for disadvantaged groups, only 12 percent of total grants by the foundations it analyzed went for that purpose.
