June 13, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The nation’s foundations gave $3.69-billion to the arts in 2000, more than twice the amount provided in
1996, according to new estimates released by the Foundation Center.
Key to the rise in dollars was the doubling and tripling of donations from longtime supporters of the arts, including the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, both in New York, as well as grants from recently created or endowed foundations, including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, in New York, and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, in Nevada. The gain came at a time when overall giving was rising fast because foundation endowments were expanding rapidly as the stock market surged.
The Foundation Center based its estimate of giving by the nation’s nearly 56,600 foundations on a sample of 1,010 foundations that supported the arts in 1996 and 1,015 that did so in 2000. To be included, foundations had to give at least $10,000 to the arts.
Arts and culture rank fourth among foundation giving priorities, following education, health, and human services, according to the study’s analysis of giving by the sample group. However, support for arts and culture has decreased slightly among the nation’s largest foundations, from a 13-to-15-percent share of dollars in the 1980s, to a 12-to-13-percent share from 1995 to 2000. Among smaller foundations, support stayed constant.
Among the grant recipients in the 2000 sample analysis, performing-arts groups claimed 32.2 percent of grant dollars, museums received 29.1 percent, 9.9 percent were allocated to media and communications, including public radio and television as well as literary publishing and film, and 8.8 percent went to multidisciplinary arts, including education programs and arts centers. The remaining grant dollars supported the humanities, historic preservation, visual arts, and architecture.
Nearly two-thirds of the grants awarded by foundations were smaller than $50,000. Grant dollars mainly went to specific projects and programs (38.2 percent), capital support (32.4 percent), and operating support (21.9 percent).
Foundations in the Northeast represent nearly one-third of all grant makers that support the arts and provide two-fifths of art grants and dollars, followed by foundations in the Midwest, South, and West. In addition, several Northeast foundations distribute arts grants nationally and internationally, while foundations in other areas give most grants to local organizations.
For a free copy of the report, “Arts Funding Update,” visit the Foundation Center’s Web site, http://www.fdncenter.org, click on “Researching Philanthropy,” and click on “Funding Trends.”
