The nation’s foundations increased their giving a modest 2.8% in 2008, to an estimated $45.6 billion, according to a new report by The Foundation Center. Grantmaking is expected to decrease in 2009, according to the report, with community foundations being most likely to say they anticipate a decrease this year.
Based on a survey of 1,200 large and mid-sized foundations, the authors found that 47% of respondents had decreased their giving in 2008. When the survey was conducted the previous year, before the economic downturn took hold, only 29% of respondents had anticipated decreases in 2008.
For the first time, the nation’s community foundations surpassed corporate foundation giving, at $4.6 billion in 2008, an increase of 6.7% from 2007. Corporate foundation giving remained steady, at $4.4 billion, while independent and family foundation giving increased by 2.5%, to $33 billion.
Recent Philanthropy Potluck discussion has focused on the question, what value does research have when data are lagged and results are about yesterday – especially during this unprecedented downturn. This recent report is a good example of why it’s important to look at both what foundations say they are planning, and then again, at what they actually did. Comparing planned vs. actual is only possible with an after-the-fact look-back; without it, we wouldn’t know that the decrease in foundation giving in 2008 was actually 18 percentage points greater than anticipated. And that kind of information is likely to be useful in predicting what might happen in 2009.
