Perpetuity or Limited Lifespan: How Do Family Foundations Decide?

Presents findings on family foundations' choices to spend down or to exist in perpetuity and the factors involved, including foundation assets, age, and presence of a living founder. Explores potential effects of the economic crisis on lifespan planning

Giving in Florida, 2015

Florida is home to a vibrant and growing grantmaking community addressing issues ranging from the arts to medical research to the sciences at the local, national, and even international level. This report outlines the state of giving in Florida and includes key findings, a broad variety of information detailing the philanthropic landscape of the state, and predictions for the future of giving in Florida

Earthquake in Haiti: Leading U.S. Foundations Respond to the Crisis

In the immediate aftermath of the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti, the Foundation Center surveyed members of its Grantmaker Leadership Panel to gauge the reaction of top U.S. funders to the unfolding crisis. Findings suggest that a number of leading funders are considering a direct response to the crisis, with a primary focus on providing emergency assistance

Diversity Metrics Forum: Developing Standards for the Collection of Data on Diversity in Philanthropy

In recent years, private foundation leaders have found themselves in the national spotlight due to growing public concern about the lack of available data on the diversity of foundation staff and boards, as well as grantee organizations and the communities they serve with the support of philanthropic dollars. This report summarizes the discussions that took place at the Diversity Metrics Forum, which brought together 47 foundation leaders, researchers, and representatives of philanthropic infrastructure organizations to discuss strategies for systematically collecting data on diversity in philanthropy

Accelerating Change for Women and Girls: The Role of Women's Funds

In recent years, interest in philanthropy for and by women has intensified, accompanied by a growing acceptance of the idea that philanthropic investments in women and girls can accelerate positive change in communities. To understand this evolution in thinking and practice within philanthropy, the Foundation Center partnered with the Women's Funding Network, a global movement of women's funds, to chart the current landscape of philanthropy focused on women and girls and document the specific role played by women's funds

Philanthropy and HBCUs: Foundation funding to historically Black colleges and universities

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played a central—if underappreciated—role in the United States. The earliest HBCUs were founded before the legal enslavement of Black people ended. Since then, they have been critical in educating Black people, developing Black leaders, and addressing inequality. Although researchers have studied the government's role in financing HBCUs, there has been little research on private philanthropic support. This report seeks to fill that gap by examining U.S. foundation funding to HBCUs and exploring the relationship between foundations and HBCUs. Through quantitative analysis leveraging Candid's comprehensive grants data and qualitative interviews with HBCU staff, students and funders, this report strives to understand the philanthropic funding patterns and experiences of HBCUs

Use of Consultants by U.S. Foundations: Results of a Foundation Center Survey

This article presents the results of a survey launched in January 2014 by Foundation Center, in collaboration with the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, examining use of consultants by community, corporate, and independent foundations whose annual giving totals at least $100,000. The survey asked funders to report whether they used consultants in the past two years and, if so, how frequently and for what purposes; they were also asked to report their level of satisfaction with consultants’ work. Funders that did not engage consultants in the last two years were asked why not. The survey also sought open-ended responses about working with consultants. The survey found widespread use of consultants among foundations. While the results of this study tend to emphasize the benefits – taking advantage of external expertise, allowing staff to stay focused on what they do best, bringing fresh or neutral perspectives to the work – respondents were also clear that working with consultants has its challenges

The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2022 Edition

For 25 years, the Council on Foundations and Candid have partnered on studies of globally focused giving by U.S. foundations. The new edition of The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations dives into 2016-2019 data to provide the latest perspective on how the nation's foundations are supporting critical efforts to improve health outcomes, address climate change, offer access to education, ensure human rights, and engage with a wide array of other global priorities. Through interviews with a selection of global funders, Global Giving also offers insights on how foundations are addressing the critical challenges of our time and where they see signs of optimism and opportunity going forward.Key Report FindingsU.S. private and community foundations included in Candid's Foundation 1000 dataset awarded globally focused grants totaling $8 billion in 2019—close to four times the approximately$2.2 billion awarded in 2002.Health accounted for 49 percent of global grant dollars.The largest shares of funding focused on the Sub-Saharan Africa (25.1%) and Asia & Pacific (17.7%) regions.Among the many issue areas supported by foundations, human rights has realized the fastest growth in global support in recent years. In the 2016-2019 period, human rights reached 11 percent of global foundation grant dollars, up from less than 7 percent in the 2011-2015 period.Roughly 13 percent of U.S. foundations' global grant dollars went directly to organizations based in the country where programs were implemented in the 2016-2019 period, up marginally from approximately 12 percent in the 2011-2015 period.Funding by Foundation 1000 foundations for efforts to counter or mitigate the impact of climate change in the United States and globally totaled nearly $1.8 billion in the 2016-2019 period, up from$1.3 billion in the 2011-2015 period.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation accounted for 44% of global giving by U.S. foundations from 2016 to 2019

The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations, 2011-2015

The State of Global Grantmaking Giving by U.S. Foundations is the latest report in a decades-long collaboration between Foundation Center and The Council on Foundations and aims to help funders and civil society organizations better navigate the giving landscape as they work to effect change around the world. The analysis reveals that global giving by U.S. foundations increased by 29% from 2011 to 2015, reaching an all-time high of $9.3 billion in 2015. In addition to a detailed analysis of trends by issue area, geographic region, population group, and donor strategy, this analysis also relates these trends to key events and developments, including the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the spread of Ebola in West Africa, and the increasing legal restrictions faced by civil society in countries around the world

International Giving by U.S. Community Foundations: Local Communities with Global Reach

This report, a joint effort by the Council on Foundations and Foundation Center, examines the current state and recent trends in international giving and engagement by large U.S. community foundations. The first-ever analysis of this type suggests that many community foundations are beginning to adopt a broader, more nuanced definition of "community" than they have in the past.The report documents how funds channeled from U.S. community foundations support international programs and recipients and highlights five U.S. community foundations and their approaches to global engagement and international grantmaking. For this report, we analyzed all the international grants made by U.S. community foundations included in Foundation Center's set of 1,000 of the largest U.S. Foundations from 2011 to 2014, which included 10,533 grants worth $697 million