Operating Support Jumped 83% in 2011
By Holly Hall
Chronicle of Philanthropy
May 22, 2013
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:
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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.
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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.
