October 1, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute
The nation’s 81,777 grant makers gave nearly $51-billion to charities last year, nearly 4 percent more than the $49-billion in 2011, a new study from the Foundation Center finds.
The center said it expected modest growth in grants this year.
It noted that foundations held $662-billion in assets in 2011, the latest year for which it had a tally.
Health projects got the biggest share of money in 2011, with $6.8-billion in grants, followed by education, which received $5-billion. Human-service organizations received $3.5-billion.
The study found that more than one-third of grant money was “specifically intended to benefit the economically disadvantaged.”
Foundations spent $13-billion to support nonprofit programs and $6.7-billion to provide general support. The median grant was $28,462.
The report states that in 2011, 1,122 of the top foundations awarded $24.5-billion, half of the total support. Of the more than 56,000 recipients of that support, the top 1 percent received half.
The nation’s most prestigious universities and its biggest hospitals make up the top 1 percent of recipients, said Brad Smith, president of the Foundation Center.
“There’s a tremendous amount of concentration in giving,” said Mr. Smith. “A small percentage of nonprofits capture a very large portion of the resources coming out of foundations.”
But Mr. Smith noted the “small size” of the median grant for the top foundations.
“It’s kind of surprising that the median grant size of the top 1,000 foundations is nearly $29,000,” he said.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation held the top slot in total giving with $3.2-billion. The Walton Family Foundation and the Ford Foundation each reported total giving of $487-million, the study found.
