Foundation Giving Trends Show Hopeful Signs for Communities in Need, NCRP Study Finds
Philanthropy News Digest
May 23, 2013
The share of foundation grant dollars awarded for general operating support increased to 24 percent in 2011, up from an average of 16 percent in 2008-10, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy reports in the latest installment of its Philanthropic Landscape series.
Based on an examination of grants data from more than twelve hundred of the largest foundations in the United States and comprising four separate studies — The State of General Operating Support 2011, The State of Giving to Underserved Communities 2011, The State of Social Justice Philanthropy 2011, and The State of Multi-Year Funding 2011 — the analysis revealed that foundations awarded $10.2 billion to benefit underserved communities in 2011 and nearly $3 billion to empower them. The analysis also found that the share of foundation grant dollars benefiting the poor, elderly, women, and other marginalized communities was 42 percent in 2011, up slightly from 40 percent in 2008-10; that one in five foundations awarded grants in support of marginalized communities — up from one in eight in 2004-06; and that nearly a hundred foundations awarded more than a quarter of their grant dollars to social justice causes in 2011 — almost double the percentage recorded in 2004-06.
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