Foundation Grants to Arts and Culture, 2014
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Arts Funding Snapshot: GIA’s Annual Research on Support for Arts and Culture (3 Mb)
This year’s snapshot of arts funding is the second that utilizes Foundation Center’s new Philanthropy Classification System. This system of coding and organizing foundation funding replaces the Grants Classification System (GCS), which was employed by Foundation Center for nearly a quarter century. For a description of the relevant changes from the GCS, please refer to last year’s snapshot of arts funding in the winter 2016 issue of the Reader.
In 2014, giving by the approximately 87,000 active US foundations rose 9 percent, to $60.2 billion. Similarly, among 1,000 of the largest US independent, corporate, community, and grantmaking operating foundations included in Foundation Center’s 2014 data set, overall giving was up 10 percent. Arts and culture funding grew at a more modest rate of 4 percent. In addition, while actual grant dollars in 2014 were higher and arts and culture continued to rank among the top three foundation funding priorities, the share of overall foundation support targeting arts and culture remained smaller than what was reported in the 1980s, 1990s, and even earlier in the 2000s. Actual arts grants dollars are likely to grow along with overall foundation giving, but what remains unclear is whether arts funding will rebound to its earlier share of overall foundation support.
Highlights
Foundation Center offers these key findings from GIA’s fifteenth snapshot of foundation giving to arts and culture. The definition of arts and culture used for this snapshot is based on Foundation Center’s Philanthropy Classification System and encompasses funding for the performing arts, museums, visual arts, multidisciplinary arts, humanities, historical activities, arts services, folk arts, public arts, and cultural awareness. The findings in this snapshot are based on analysis of two closely related data sets. The distribution of 2014 arts and culture giving uses the latest FC 1000 data set,1 while the changes in foundation giving for the arts between 2013 and 2014 use a subset of 828 funders for which we had 2013 and 2014 data, referred to in this snapshot as the matched set of foundations.2
Arts funding as a share of total dollars dipped slightly in 2014. Among the 1,000 largest foundations included in Foundation Center’s grants sample for 2014, arts giving totaled nearly $2 billion, or 8 percent of overall grant dollars. Compared to the previous year, share of dollars was down slightly, while share of number of arts grants remained basically unchanged.
Foundation funding for arts and culture was up in 2014. Among the matched set of leading funders, arts funding increased 4 percent between 2013 and 2014 but lagged behind a 10 percent increase in overall giving by these foundations.
The size of the median arts grant remained unchanged. The median arts and culture grant size — $25,000 — did not change from 2013 to 2014 (nor has it changed since the 1990s), although the real value of the median grant decreased due to inflation. The unadjusted value was below the $30,000 median amount for all foundation grants in the latest year.
Large grants account for more than half of arts grant dollars. Large arts grants of $500,000 and more captured 58 percent of total grant dollars for the arts in 2014, up from 55 percent in 2013.
Relative to most other fields, a larger share of arts grant dollars provided operating support. In 2014, general operating support accounted for 26 percent of arts and culture grant dollars. The share is fairly consistent with the 27 percent for general operating support reported for arts grants dollars in 2013. Over the past decade general operating support for the arts has hovered around 30 percent.
Top arts funders accounted for a larger share of overall giving than in 2013. The top twenty-five arts funders by giving amount provided 37 percent of total foundation arts dollars in 2014, an increase from 34 percent in 2013. The share of arts giving accounted for by the top funders has remained consistent for the past decade.
Please note: It is important to keep in mind that the foundation grantmaking examined here represents only one source of arts financing. It does not examine arts support from earned income, governments, individual donors, or the business community. This analysis also looks only at foundation arts support for nonprofit organizations, and not for individual artists, commercial arts enterprises, or informal and unincorporated activities.
Specific Findings
Overall foundation dollars for the arts. The foundations included in Foundation Center’s 2014 FC 1000 data set awarded 16,545 arts and culture grants totaling nearly $2 billion, or 8 percent of overall grant dollars (figure 1). Compared to the previous year, the share of arts dollars was down slightly (7.6 percent versus 8.2 percent), while the share of number of arts grants remained basically unchanged at roughly 12 percent. Comparing giving by the matched set of funders shows that grant dollars for the arts increased 4 percent between 2013 and 2014, compared to a 10 percent increase in grant dollars overall (figure 2).
The impact of exceptionally large grants. Every year and in all funding areas, a few very large grants can skew overall totals, creating distortions in long-term grantmaking trends. In 2014, seventeen arts and culture grants provided at least $10 million, and instances where these grants had a notable impact on grantmaking patterns are identified throughout this analysis. Yet despite the potential fluctuations caused by these exceptional grants, Foundation Center data in all fields have always included them, providing consistency over time. (In addition, Foundation Center provides statistics based on share of number of grants, which are not skewed by exceptionally large grants.)
Corporate foundations represent an important source of support for arts and culture. While corporate foundations account for less than 4 percent of US private and community foundations, the larger corporate foundations included in the 2014 grants sample provided 6 percent of grant dollars for the arts (figure 3). Actual grant dollars totaled $116.5 million. By number, corporate foundations allocated 2,246 grants, or 14 percent, of the overall number of arts grants in 2014.
Grants by Arts Subfield
Funding for museums accounted for close to two-fifths (37 percent) of all foundation art dollars in 2014 (figure 4), surpassing the share reported for the performing arts (34 percent). From the start of the 1980s until 1997, the performing arts consistently received more foundation support than museums. However, museums surpassed the performing arts by share in the late 1990s to early 2000s, and several times in recent years (2008, 2009, 2013, and 2014). More study would be needed to adequately understand the underlying reasons for the shifts in share between these two fields of activity, for example, the entry onto the scene of new and large arts funders, extraordinarily large grants, the contribution of valuable art collections, and new capital projects at museums.
Giving to museums. In 2014, museums benefited from 3,700 grants totaling nearly $720 million awarded by the 1,000 largest foundations included in the FC 1000 data set. Among museum types, more than half of funding supported art museums. Among the matched set of funders, grant dollars allocated to museums increased 17 percent between 2013 and 2014, while the number of grants was up 10 percent. The largest museum grant in 2014 was a $31 million award from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Giving to performing arts. In 2014, among the matched set of funders, performing arts grant dollars declined 5 percent compared to 2013, while the number of grants dropped 2 percent. A total of 7,272 grants were awarded for the performing arts by foundations in the set — close to double the number reported for museums. In general, the average performing arts grant tends to be smaller in size than the average museum grant (around $90,000 versus $195,000). The largest share of giving to the performing arts supported theaters and performing arts centers. One of the biggest performing arts grants in the latest sample was a $5 million award from the Annenberg Foundation to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts to restore the center and to provide a professional theater environment for children and young adults through school programs. Included within the performing arts is support for performing arts education, which totaled $70.5 million in 2014. (See “Giving to multidisciplinary arts,” below, for a figure on foundation grant dollars supporting other types of arts education.)
Giving to the humanities. In 2014, the humanities benefited from 540 grants totaling $111.7 million awarded by the 1,000 largest foundations included in the FC 1000 data set.3 Funding for this area accounted for 6 percent of arts grant dollars in 2014, up slightly from the 5 percent share captured in 2013. Among the matched set of funders, grant dollars awarded for the humanities increased 12 percent, while the number of grants awarded was up only 2 percent.
Giving to multidisciplinary arts. The share of arts giving for multidisciplinary arts fell to 5 percent in 2014.4 Grant dollars awarded for multidisciplinary arts also declined 13 percent between 2013 and 2014 among the matched set of funders. Among the various subcategories of multidisciplinary arts, arts education (excluding performing arts education) totaled $47.5 million in the latest year.
Giving to the visual arts. Among the matched set of funders, grant dollars for the visual arts and architecture increased 26 percent between 2013 and 2014, although the number of grants for the field declined (down 12 percent). The visual arts and architecture benefited from $97.5 million in 2014, including a $1.8 million grant from the Kresge Foundation to the College of Creative Studies for the Kresge Eminent Artist Award and Artist Fellowships.
Giving to historic preservation. Support for historic preservation declined 17 percent between 2013 and 2014 among the matched set of funders, while the number of grants awarded held steady. Overall, historic preservation benefited from 1,064 grants totaling $87.9 million in 2014.
TABLE 1: Distribution of grants by support strategy, 2014*
| Support strategy | Dollar amount | % | No. of grants | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity-building and technical assistance | 82,951,161 | 4.2 | 418 | 2.5 |
| Capital and infrastructure | 364,973,678 | 18.6 | 1,038 | 6.3 |
| Building acquisitions | 1,472,000 | 0.1 | 4 | – |
| Building and renovations | 118,946,123 | 6.1 | 226 | 1.4 |
| Capital campaigns | 81,514,042 | 4.2 | 207 | 1.3 |
| Collections acquisitions | 15,625,875 | 0.8 | 24 | 0.1 |
| Collections management and preservation | 27,628,125 | 1.4 | 41 | 0.2 |
| Equipment | 7,432,709 | 0.4 | 71 | 0.4 |
| Facilities maintenance | 1,275,000 | 0.1 | 3 | – |
| Information technology | 14,968,800 | 0.8 | 44 | 0.3 |
| Land acquisitions | 3,535,000 | 0.2 | 4 | – |
| Rent | 476,600 | – | 1 | – |
| Other capital and infrastructure | 107,547,563 | 5.5 | 453 | 2.7 |
| Financial sustainability | 175,996,129 | 9.0 | 754 | 4.6 |
| Annual campaigns | 3,830,711 | 0.2 | 56 | 0.3 |
| Debt reduction | 11,386,119 | 0.6 | 6 | – |
| Earned income | 145,000 | – | 3 | – |
| Emergency funds | 3,673,925 | 0.2 | 2 | – |
| Endowments | 67,840,498 | 3.5 | 68 | 0.4 |
| Financial services | 575,000 | – | 2 | – |
| Fundraising | 62,739,519 | 3.2 | 427 | 2.6 |
| Sponsorships | 4,864,370 | 0.2 | 32 | 0.2 |
| Other financial sustainability | 36,242,263 | 1.8 | 191 | 1.2 |
| General support | 511,205,262 | 26.1 | 4,819 | 29.1 |
| Individual development and student aid | 58,179,077 | 3.0 | 386 | 2.3 |
| Leadership and professional development | 32,402,457 | 1.7 | 148 | 0.9 |
| Network-building and collaboration | 44,217,986 | 2.3 | 207 | 1.3 |
| Policy, advocacy, and systems reform | 18,448,191 | 0.9 | 127 | 0.8 |
| Advocacy | 12,086,055 | 0.6 | 84 | 0.5 |
| Coalition building | 90,000 | – | 1 | – |
| Equal access | 1,401,570 | 0.1 | 10 | 0.1 |
| Ethics and accountability | 75,000 | – | 1 | – |
| Grassroots organizing | 600,000 | – | 1 | – |
| Litigation | – | – | – | – |
| Public policy and systems reform | 5,906,054 | 0.3 | 8 | – |
| Other policy, advocacy, and systems reform | 2,295,566 | 0.1 | 24 | 0.1 |
| Publishing and productions | 117,762,867 | 6.0 | 1049 | 6.3 |
| Product and service development | 218,000 | – | 4 | – |
| Program development | 405,947,262 | 20.7 | 3,832 | 23.2 |
| Public engagement and marketing | 29,425,651 | 1.5 | 205 | 1.2 |
| Research and evaluation | 38,240,607 | 2.0 | 119 | 0.7 |
| Other specified strategies | 135,322,729 | 6.9 | 1,038 | 6.3 |
| Not specified | 443,078,245 | 22.6 | 5,042 | 30.5 |
| Total | 1,959,446,612 | 100.0 | 16,545 | 100.0 |
Source: Foundation Center, 2017. Based on all grants of $10,000 or more awarded by 1,000 of the largest foundations representing approximately half of total giving by all US foundations.
* Grants may occasionally be for multiple types of support, e.g., for new works and for endowment, and would thereby be counted twice.
Grants by Support Strategy
An important caveat to report on the allocation of foundation dollars by specific support strategy is that for roughly 23 percent of arts grant dollars in the 2014 Foundation Center sample, the support strategy could not be identified. This means that modest differences in percentages may not be reliable. (The grant records available to Foundation Center often lack the information necessary to identify the support strategy. For example, it is often the case that the only source of data on grants is the 990-PF tax return, and this tends to be less complete than other forms of grant reporting.)
The arts compared to other foundation fields of giving. dollars in 2014. The shares of grant dollars and number of grants allocated for this support strategy in 2014 were higher for arts and culture (26 percent and 29 percent, respectively) than the overall share directed to operating support by FC 1000 foundations, which accounted for roughly 16 percent of grant dollars.
Program support received the second largest share of arts grants dollars, 21 percent, in 2014. Special programs and projects typically receive one of the largest shares of arts and culture grant dollars and grants. In fact, the same is true in most of the major fields, such as health and education, where program support consistently accounts for one of the largest shares of funding.
Capital support accounted for the third largest share of arts grant dollars. Similar to general support, the share of grant dollars allocated for this type of support was also higher for arts and culture (19 percent) than for grants overall (8 percent). Grants for capital support are larger on average than awards for program and general operating support, and exceptionally large capital grants can have a pronounced effect on the distribution of funding by support strategy.
Arts grants by specific types of support. Table 1 provides a breakdown of more specific support strategies within the larger support categories and lists both the specific dollar value and number of grants made in each type. As with all data in the snapshot, it is important to keep in mind that this table includes only grants of $10,000 or more awarded to organizations by a sample of the top 1,000 foundations by total giving. It is also important to note that approximately 23 percent of the arts grant dollars in this sample did not have a specified support strategy.
TABLE 2: Arts grants by grant size, 2014*
| Grant range | No. of grants | % | Dollar amount | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5 million and over | 43 | 0.3 | $397,398,747 | 20.3 |
| $1 million – under $5 million | 306 | 1.8 | 508,253,179 | 25.9 |
| $500,000 – under $1 million | 358 | 2.2 | 220,756,362 | 11.3 |
| $100,000 – under $500,000 | 2,599 | 15.7 | 460,623,802 | 23.5 |
| $50,000 – under $100,000 | 2,649 | 16.0 | 163,561,818 | 8.3 |
| $25,000 – under $50,000 | 3,824 | 23.1 | 116,123,818 | 5.9 |
| $10,000 – under $25,000 | 6,766 | 40.9 | 92,728,886 | 4.7 |
| Total | 16,545 | 100.0 | $1,959,446,612 | 100.0 |
Source: Foundation Center, 2017. Based on all grants of $10,000 or more awarded by 1,000 of the largest foundations representing approximately half of total giving by all US foundations.
* Grants may occasionally be for multiple types of support, e.g., for new works and for endowment, and would thereby be counted twice.
TABLE 3. Twenty-five largest arts, culture, and media funders, 2014
| Rank | Foundation | State | Number of arts grants | Arts grant dollars | Total grant dollars | Arts as percent of total dollars | Arts capital support dollars* | Arts other support dollars* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Andrew W. Mellon Foundation | NY | 197 | $162,484,190 | $263,860,287 | 61.6 | $30,540,996 | $154,330,590 |
| 2. | Silicon Valley Community Foundation | CA | 260 | 42,838,923 | 910,826,774 | 4.7 | – | 1,555,125 |
| 3. | Hess Foundation | NJ | 41 | 37,821,630 | 56,723,130 | 66.7 | – | 36,147,130 |
| 4. | Brown Foundation | TX | 173 | 36,211,255 | 68,543,407 | 52.8 | 24,300,213 | 26,581,053 |
| 5. | Minneapolis Foundation | MN | 78 | 35,129,240 | 68,055,681 | 51.6 | 11,551,360 | 23,238,880 |
| 6. | Windgate Charitable Foundation | AR | 164 | 30,908,750 | 42,240,588 | 73.2 | 19,763,647 | 9,958,498 |
| 7. | Gilder Foundation | NY | 26 | 27,150,000 | 40,655,000 | 66.8 | – | 10,000 |
| 8. | The Kresge Foundation | MI | 88 | 26,899,850 | 133,794,514 | 20.1 | – | 25,174,850 |
| 9. | Greater Kansas City Community Foundation | MO | 265 | 25,910,403 | 148,418,960 | 17.5 | – | 21,817,687 |
| 10. | Freedom Forum | DC | 2 | 25,469,510 | 25,469,510 | 100.0 | – | 25,469,510 |
| 11. | Johnson Art and Education Foundation | NJ | 2 | 24,278,549 | 24,278,549 | 100.0 | 22,451,217 | 1,827,332 |
| 12. | Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation | CA | 18 | 23,091,500 | 154,421,874 | 15.0 | 5,900,000 | 23,066,500 |
| 13. | Shubert Foundation | NY | 450 | 21,990,000 | 22,480,000 | 97.8 | – | 21,810,000 |
| 14. | Colburn Foundation | CA | 5 | 21,465,000 | 21,585,000 | 99.4 | – | 21,465,000 |
| 15. | Ford Foundation | NY | 66 | 21,313,342 | 421,675,922 | 5.1 | 3,970,000 | 20,813,342 |
| 16. | Annenberg Foundation | CA | 97 | 20,685,813 | 68,719,044 | 30.1 | 10,469,023 | 10,478,406 |
| 17. | William Penn Foundation | PA | 47 | 19,642,871 | 121,447,919 | 16.2 | 859,700 | 19,642,871 |
| 18. | Dallas Foundation | TX | 45 | 19,097,430 | 53,497,078 | 35.7 | 95,667 | 18,138,912 |
| 19. | Lilly Endowment | IN | 39 | 17,746,567 | 276,049,697 | 6.4 | 4,110,167 | 13,675,400 |
| 20. | Robert W. Woodruff Foundation | GA | 7 | 14,600,000 | 112,526,449 | 13.0 | 12,600,000 | 9,600,000 |
| 21. | William and Flora Hewlett Foundation | CA | 110 | 14,465,250 | 311,004,525 | 4.7 | 1,340,000 | 13,634,250 |
| 22. | Doris Duke Charitable Foundation | NY | 45 | 14,108,373 | 52,291,548 | 27.0 | – | 11,125,623 |
| 23. | Ahmanson Foundation | CA | 68 | 14,050,100 | 48,999,277 | 28.7 | 10,676,100 | 6,669,000 |
| 24. | James Irvine Foundation | CA | 40 | 13,512,100 | 67,630,600 | 20.0 | 1,000,000 | 13,512,100 |
| 25. | Bank of America Charitable Foundation | NC | 232 | 13,199,878 | 130,887,983 | 10.1 | – | 13,199,878 |
| Total | 2,565 | $724,070,524 | $3,646,083,316 | 19.9 | $159,628,090 | $542,941,937 |
Source: Foundation Center, 2017. Based on all grants of $10,000 or more awarded by 1,000 of the largest foundations representing approximately half of total giving by all US foundations.
* Grants may provide capital support and other types of support. In these cases, grants would be counted in both totals. Figures include only grants that could be coded as providing specific types of support.
Grants by Grant Size
Median grant size. The median or “typical” grant amount for arts and culture in 2014 was $25,000, which was below the median amount for all foundation grants ($30,000).5 The median amount for arts and culture has remained consistent at $25,000 since the early 1990s. More study would be required to determine whether the unchanged median means that foundation arts grants simply are not keeping pace with inflation, or whether, in combination with the increased number of grants, it means that foundations are choosing to distribute funds more broadly to a larger number of recipients.
Small and midsized grants. Roughly two-thirds (64 percent) of all arts grants in the 2014 sample were for amounts between $10,000 and $49,999 (table 2), nearly unchanged from the 2013 share. The share of midsized arts grants ($50,000 to $499,999) also remained fairly consistent, accounting for about one-third of arts grants.
Large grants. The share of larger arts grants ($500,000 and over) remained consistent at 4 percent of the total number of arts grants in 2014. Their share of total grant dollars increased slightly to 58 percent, compared to 56 percent in 2013. Overall, foundations in the sample made ninety-six arts grants of at least $2.5 million in 2014, up slightly from 2013.
In addition to a $5 million award from the Annenberg Foundation to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, noted earlier, examples of other especially large grants in 2014 included Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s $10 million award to the Detroit Institute of Arts for its “Grand Bargain” to hold its collections for the public in perpetuity; Roberts Foundation’s $8.5 million grant to expand the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and a $7.9 million grant to the Brookfield Arts Foundation from the Edward C. Johnson Fund for art acquisition.
The twenty-five largest arts funders. The top twenty-five arts funders by giving amount provided 37 percent of the total arts dollars in Foundation Center’s 2014 sample (table 3), up from 33 percent in 2013. Overall, the share of giving accounted for by the top twenty-five arts funders has fluctuated between 33 and 39 percent since the end of the 1990s.
Top foundations by share of arts giving out of overall giving. Of the foundations that committed large percentages of their grant dollars to arts and culture, many are the smaller foundations in the sample (table 4). Among the top one hundred foundations ranked by share of arts giving out of total giving, over half (fifty-nine) gave less than $5 million in total arts grant dollars in 2014.
TABLE 4. Top 35 foundations by share of arts giving out of overall giving, 2014
| Rank | Foundation | State | Fdn Type* | Number of arts grants | Arts grant dollars | Total grant dollars | Arts as percent of total dollars | Arts capital support dollars* | Arts other support dollars* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Freedom Forum | DC | OP | 2 | $25,469,510 | $25,469,510 | 100.0 | – | $25,469,510 |
| 2. | Johnson Art and Education Foundation | NJ | IN | 2 | 24,278,549 | 24,278,549 | 100.0 | $22,451,217 | 1,827,332 |
| 3. | David H. Koch Charitable Foundation | KS | IN | 1 | 10,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 100.0 | 10,000,000 | – |
| 4. | SHS Foundation | NY | IN | 36 | 4,723,423 | 4,723,423 | 100.0 | – | 683,283 |
| 5. | Ford Motor Company | MI | CS | 1 | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 100.0 | 1,000,000 | – |
| 6. | Colburn Foundation | CA | IN | 5 | 21,465,000 | 21,585,000 | 99.4 | – | 21,465,000 |
| 7. | Jerome Foundation | MN | IN | 78 | 2,841,200 | 2,873,200 | 98.9 | 40,000 | 2,801,200 |
| 8. | Lloyd Rigler Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation | CA | IN | 17 | 6,144,970 | 6,267,530 | 98.0 | – | 775,000 |
| 9. | Shubert Foundation | NY | IN | 450 | 21,990,000 | 22,480,000 | 97.8 | – | 21,810,000 |
| 10. | Calderwood Charitable Foundation | MA | IN | 5 | 5,936,417 | 6,319,633 | 93.9 | – | 5,936,417 |
| 11. | Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation | MO | IN | 68 | 10,105,506 | 10,992,506 | 91.9 | 110,000 | 3,907,500 |
| 12. | Howard Gilman Foundation | NY | IN | 41 | 9,635,000 | 10,885,000 | 88.5 | 500,000 | 9,135,000 |
| 13. | J. Paul Getty Trust | CA | OP | 81 | 11,808,301 | 13,363,301 | 88.4 | 1,552,945 | 10,355,356 |
| 14. | Lee and Juliet Folger Fund | VA | IN | 5 | 4,945,000 | 6,120,000 | 80.8 | 4,900,000 | 45,000 |
| 15. | Windgate Charitable Foundation | AR | IN | 164 | 30,908,750 | 42,240,588 | 73.2 | 19,763,647 | 9,958,498 |
| 16. | San Angelo Area Foundation | TX | CM | 5 | 8,071,453 | 11,062,458 | 73.0 | – | 20,000 |
| 17. | Goatie Foundation | OH | IN | 11 | 3,750,000 | 5,182,500 | 72.4 | 1,000,000 | 1,635,000 |
| 18. | Sue and Edgar Wachenheim Foundation | NY | IN | 12 | 8,356,000 | 11,658,500 | 71.7 | – | 8,356,000 |
| 19. | Avenir Foundation | CO | IN | 10 | 10,075,842 | 14,753,342 | 68.3 | 7,805,842 | 2,270,000 |
| 20. | Gulf Coast Community Foundation | MS | CM | 1 | 450,500 | 670,125 | 67.2 | – | 450,500 |
| 21. | Gilder Foundation | NY | IN | 26 | 27,150,000 | 40,655,000 | 66.8 | – | 10,000 |
| 22. | Hess Foundation | NJ | IN | 41 | 37,821,630 | 56,723,130 | 66.7 | – | 36,147,130 |
| 23. | Monteforte Foundation | NY | IN | 17 | 5,413,673 | 8,391,473 | 64.5 | – | 675,603 |
| 24. | Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Foundation | NY | IN | 6 | 1,436,667 | 2,265,667 | 63.4 | – | 186,667 |
| 25. | Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust | IL | IN | 12 | 1,403,333 | 2,246,418 | 62.5 | – | 1,403,333 |
| 26. | Andrew W. Mellon Foundation | NY | IN | 197 | 162,484,190 | 263,860,287 | 61.6 | 30,540,996 | 154,330,590 |
| 27. | Lannan Foundation | NM | IN | 42 | 7,376,775 | 12,079,299 | 61.1 | 1,375,000 | 5,611,775 |
| 28. | Richard H. Driehaus Foundation | IL | IN | 65 | 1,961,800 | 3,247,800 | 60.4 | – | 1,961,800 |
| 29. | Frist Foundation | TN | IN | 8 | 5,417,775 | 9,183,498 | 59.0 | 221,500 | 5,186,275 |
| 30. | Ehrenkranz Family Foundation | NY | IN | 4 | 2,577,570 | 4,666,685 | 55.2 | – | – |
| 31. | Alex and Marie Manoogian Foundation | MI | IN | 1 | 450,000 | 821,000 | 54.8 | – | – |
| 32. | Robert H. Smith Family Foundation | VA | IN | 21 | 6,480,554 | 11,965,910 | 54.2 | – | – |
| 33. | Borina Foundation | CA | IN | 1 | 100,000 | 187,000 | 53.5 | – | – |
| 34. | Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation | NY | IN | 98 | 3,112,000 | 5,874,000 | 53.0 | – | 749,500 |
| 35. | Brown Foundation | TX | IN | 173 | 36,211,255 | 68,543,407 | 52.8 | 24,300,213 | 26,581,053 |
Source: Foundation Center, 2017. Based on all grants of $10,000 or more awarded by 1,000 of the largest foundations representing approximately half of total giving by all US foundations.
* IN = Independent; OP = Operating; CS = Corporate; CM = Community
** Grants may provide capital support and other types of support. In these cases, grants would be counted in both totals. Figures include only grants that could be coded as providing specific types of support.
Giving for International Cultural Exchange
Grant dollars supporting international cultural exchange decreased roughly 24 percent between 2013 and 2014. In 2014, foundations awarded thirty-five grants related to international cultural exchange totaling $5.2 million. The largest award was a $1 million grant from E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation to Asia Society in New York City to support the exhibit Buddhist Art of Myanmar. By comparison, the largest grant reported in 2013 for international cultural exchange was a $1.4 million general support grant from the New York–based Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Fund to the China Institute in America.
Reina Mukai is Foundation Center’s knowledge services manager.
NOTES
- Foundation Center’s 2014 FC 1000 set includes all of the grants of $10,000 or more reported by 1,000 of the largest US independent, corporate, community, and grantmaking operating foundations by total giving. For community foundations, the set includes only discretionary grants and donor-advised grants (when provided by the funder). The set excludes grants to individuals. This set accounts for approximately half of giving by all of the more than 87,000 active US grantmaking foundations. Grant amounts may represent the full authorized amount of the grant or the amount paid in that year, depending on the information made available by each foundation.
- Between 2013 and 2014 the composition of the FC 1000 changed, which could distort year-to-year fluctuations in grant dollars targeting specific issue areas. To account for these potential distortions year to year, Foundation Center has analyzed changes in giving based on a subset of 828 funders for which we had 2013 and 2014 data.
- Included within the humanities is funding for art history, history and archaeology, classical and foreign languages, linguistics, literature, philosophy, and theology.
- Included in multidisciplinary arts is funding for multidisciplinary centers, arts councils, artist’s services, arts administration, arts exchange, and arts education.
- The median — meaning that half of the grants are above and half are below the amount — is generally acknowledged to be a more representative measure of the typical grant than the mean, or “average,” because the median is not influenced by extreme high or low amounts.