In Saturday’s (4/17) Crain’s New York Business, Miriam Kreinin Souccar reports, “The economic crisis caused foundations to cut their 2009 giving by an estimated 8.4% last year, the largest decline ever tracked by the Foundation Center. Grants made by the nation’s 75,000 foundations fell to $42.9 billion from $46.8 billion in 2008. The drop is a huge contrast to giving in 2008, when grants actually rose by about 2.8% over 2007 levels. Nearly 10,000 of the foundations are based in New York. Independent and family foundations reduced their giving by 8.9% to $30.8 billion; corporate foundation giving decreased by 3.3% to $4.4 billion; and community foundation giving declined by 9.6% to $4.1 billion. … The actual loss in foundation assets was 17%. But a number of funders cut their operating expenses and took money from their endowments to help stave off the cuts to their giving. Foundation funding isn’t likely to bounce back soon, despite the uptick in the economy. According to a survey by the Foundation Center, giving will remain flat for 2010 and 2011, because foundations make donations based on an average of their assets over multiple years.”
Posted April 21, 2010
