Philanthropy’s Unanswerable Question(s)?

Q: Exactly how much do America's foundations spend each year to benefit Hispanic and Latino populations?

A: We don't really know.

As president of the Foundation Center, I should have a better answer, especially for an institution that just published a study entitled Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and Latin America. That study concluded that over the past decade, U.S. foundation funding intended to benefit Latinos has remained relatively steady as a share of total foundation giving, averaging 1.3 percent. It also showed that foundations maintained those levels of support despite the 2008-09 recession during which their overall giving declined by 12 percent. These findings came with a strong disclaimer about the limitations of the data and the methodology: “However, these data do not capture all giving by sampled foundations intended to benefit Hispanics/Latinos.”