INTRODUCTION By Crystal D. Mandler, Research Coordinator and Holley Knaus, Research Associate For more than a quarter-century, The Foundation Grants GRANTS EXCEED 86,000; VALUE OF GRANTS Index has served as one of the most valuable resources REACHES $7.9 BILLION; 1,016 FUNDERS INCLUDED for determining the current funding priorities of the na- The Grants Index includes more than 86,000 grants of tion’s largest foundations. Both the annual volume and $10,000 or more, up 10.1 percent from the 78,000 the quarterly issues of the Grants Index enable grantseek- reported in the last edition. A total of 1,016 funders are ers and grantmakers to identify a foundation’s giving represented with combined giving of $7.9 billion, a gain interests by subject and geographic focus, types of organi- of $600 million or 9.1 percent over last year. These zations funded, types of support awarded, and population 1,016 foundations represent only 2.4 percent of the total groups served. number of active, grantmaking foundations, yet their The Grants Index is most useful to grantseekers in giving accounts for 57.4 percent of total grant dollars developing an initial list of potential funding sources awarded by all U.S. independent, corporate, community, based on a foundation’s giving program, its application and grantmaking operating foundations in 1997. procedures, and other relevant information. Grantseekers are strongly advised to read the section ‘‘How to Use The Foundation Grants Index’’ (following this introduction) before beginning their funding search. FIGURE A. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FOUR TYPES OF FOUNDATIONS Decision-Making Grantmaking Foundation Type Description Source of Funds Activity Requirements Reporting Independent An independent grant- Endowment generally Decisions may be Broad discretionary Annual information Foundation making organization derived from a single made by donor or giving allowed but may returns (990-PF) filed established to aid source such as an indi- members of the donor’s have specific guidelines with IRS must be made social, educational, vidual, a family, or a family; by an indepen- and give only in a few available to the public. religious, or other group of individuals. dent board of directors specific fields. About A small percentage charitable activities. Contributions to endow- or trustees; or by a bank 70% limit their giving to issue separately printed ment limited as to tax or trust officer acting on local area. annual reports. deductibility. the donor’s behalf. Company-Sponsored Legally an independent Endowment and annual Decisions made by Giving tends to be in Same as above. Foundation grantmaking contributions from a board of directors often fields related to cor- organization with close profit-making corpora- composed of corporate porate activities or in ties to the corporation tion. May maintain small officials, but which may communities where providing funds. endowment and pay out include individuals with corporation operates. most of its contributions no corporate affiliation. Usually give more received annually in Decisions may also be grants but in smaller grants, or may maintain made by local dollar amounts than endowment to cover company officials. independent contributions in years foundations. when corporate profits are down. Operating An organization that Endowment usually Decisions generally Most make few, if any, Same as above. Foundation uses its resources to provided from a single made by independent grants. Grants generally conduct research or source, but eligible for board of directors. related directly to the provide a direct service. maximum deductible foundation’s program. contributions from public. Community A publicly sponsored Contributions received Decisions made by Grants generally limited IRS 990 return available Foundation organization that makes from many donors. board of directors to charitable organiza- to public. Many publish grants for social, Usually eligible for representing the tions in local full guidelines or an- educational, religious, maximum tax-deductible diversity of the community. nual reports. or other charitable contributions from public. community. purposes in a specific community or region. Source: The Foundation Grants Index, 1998. FOUNDATION GRANTS INDEX vii INTRODUCTION SAMPLING BASE The sampling base for the Foundation Grants Index field of activity of a number of grant recipients. Beyond 1999 includes 86,203 grants of $10,000 or more that, information on type of support and beneficiaries awarded by 1,016 leading foundations and reported to is frequently lacking. the Foundation Center between June 1997 and July 1998. Grants were awarded primarily in 1997 or 1996. Scope and Limitations of the Grants Index The sample includes more than 800 of the 1,000 largest The Grants Index includes the grants of a diverse set of foundations, ranked by total grant dollars, and about independent, corporate, and community foundations 200 other private and community foundations of vary- (for definitions, see Figure A). The grants of six operat- ing sizes. The composition of the set of largest grant- ing foundations that maintain substantial grantmaking makers varies slightly from year to year, based on the programs, including the Open Society Institute and the availability of grants information. The information re- Freedom Forum, are also represented. Still, the Grants turns of a few of the top 800 grantmakers were unavail- Index is not intended to provide a comprehensive able due to delays in the processing and microfilming record of all private and community foundation grant- of returns by the IRS. Additionally, a few of the largest making activities. Excluded from the sample are: funders were omitted because they could not meet the · grants less than $10,000; Center’s deadline for supplying information, or be- · grants made directly to individuals; cause the grants list attached to Form 990-PF was either · expenditures for foundation-administered illegible or incomplete. projects; and The sample is heavily weighted toward these large · grants awarded by a private or community foundations. Table 1 compares distribution by asset cate- foundation to another U.S. foundation gories of the 1,016 Grants Index foundations and the (excluded to avoid double counting of grant 12,265 foundations covered in the 1998 editions of The dollars). Foundation Directory and The Foundation Directory Part Except for community foundation grants, the Grants 2 with assets of at least $1 million or giving of more than Index does not include grants awarded by public chari- $100,000. Directory foundations in the smaller asset ties and other nonprofits not classified as private foun- categories (below $10 million) account for 80 percent of dations by the IRS. Similarly, the Grants Index covers the number of foundations and 22 percent of total giving. the giving of a number of company-sponsored founda- In the Grants Index, this group of smaller foundations tions, but it does not include grants awarded through comprises only 17 percent of the number of foundations corporate giving programs. and 5 percent of total grant dollars reported. One final note: the grant amount shown in the Grants Index is based primarily on the total amount authorized whether it is paid during a single year or in Sources of Information several installments over a period of years. If the full Of the 1,016 foundations included in this volume, amount authorized is not available, the amount paid many report their grants directly to the Foundation during the year is shown. Center through electronic files, grant reporting forms, newsletters, annual reports, or grants lists (Table 2). Interpreting Trends Those foundations reporting electronically or using the About 90 percent of grant dollars reported in this Center’s grant reporting form generally provide the volume were awarded by foundations that also ap- most complete and current data on the location, scope, peared in the previous volume, insuring a high degree duration, purpose, and beneficiaries of the grant pro- of stability in the findings across years. Nonetheless, ject. Information provided in annual reports and other beyond actual increases in foundation grantmaking, foundation publications, while not as specific, changes in funding trends may result from a change in tends to also be very complete. For the remaining foun- the number of foundations included in the sample, dations----the non-voluntary reporters----grants are re- inconsistencies in reporting of participating founda- searched from the information returns all foundations tions, the inclusion of a number of large single awards, must file with the Internal Revenue Service (Form 990- and multiple-year authorizations. Due to these vari- PF). Grant descriptions taken from these returns tend to ations, the analysis of funding trends is based primarily be brief, often with little information beyond the name on the percentage allocations of the total grant dollars of the recipient organization and the dollar value of the and number of grants reported, as opposed to changes grant. Although the Center’s staff attempt to research in specific dollar amounts or in number of grants. the purposes of these recipient organizations using Especially large grants will be noted whenever their reference sources, it may be impossible to pinpoint the inclusion might influence the analysis of trends. viii FOUNDATION GRANTS INDEX INTRODUCTION TABLE 1. DISTRIBUTION BY ASSET CATEGORY WITH AGGREGATE GRANTS DATA AND COMPARISON TO FOUNDATION