According to a report from Fluxx, foundation giving in 2018 favored education in New York, ... [+]
According to a new report from a major grants management software platform, education is a top priority for foundation giving around the U.S., though a more granular look reveals some regional disparities.
The new "State of Giving" report from Fluxx offers insights into nationwide trends of giving by foundations, contrasting the Top 10 and Bottom 10 states by grants received, as well as the Top 10 categories for each of those subgroups.
According to the report, 18% of the $425 billion of charitable giving in 2018 in the U.S. was done by foundations; the data analyzed in the report offers a breakdown of $3.6 billion processed through the Fluxx platform.
“Foundations gave more than ever - over $75 billion - in 2018, accounting for 18% of total giving,” said Madeline Duva, CEO of Fluxx. “We wanted to analyze the foundation giving on our platform to understand how it varied by location and category. Interestingly, we found that, just as wealth is distributed unevenly in our country, grant dollars awarded are also consolidated heavily within a few areas.”
The Top 10 grant receiving locations, according to the report, were New York; California; Washington, D.C.; Missouri; Illinois; Michigan; Massachusetts; Oregon; Colorado; and Maryland. These 10 locations accounted for 73% of the grants analyzed in the report — $2,627,497,608.
The Bottom 10 grant receiving locations in the report are New Hampshire, Hawaii, Delaware, Idaho, South Carolina, Wyoming, Minnesota, Nebraska, West Virginia and Puerto Rico. These 10 locations accounted for just 0.82% of all the grants analyzed in the report — $29,344,007.
Minnesota and South Carolina are the largest states in the report's Bottom 10 list, ranking as the 22nd and 23rd largest states by 2018 population, respectively, but the report's authors cautioned of drawing conclusions based on population.
"A lack of federal or state funds for education may cause a foundation to give more to educational programs in a certain state, or a natural disaster in a state can result in a surge of grant funding there," a spokesperson for Fluxx said via email.
"Fluxx doesn’t share individual foundation or grant data, so we can only speculate on those reasons, but the grant funding level in a state is more likely to be related to reasons like those than, for example, a state’s population. So, while giving in the top ten states may correlate to population, it more likely related to the presence of nonprofits applying for grants and taking action in those areas."
In addition to a state-by-state breakdown, the report offers a look at the most-funded categories in both the Top 10 and Bottom 10 lists. Educational grants were by far the top category for the Top 10 locations, accounting for 45% of that $2.6 billion. Education was the leading priority in seven of the Top 10 states, including New York and California.
In the Bottom 10 locations, Housing & Shelter was far and away the leading priority, accounting for a full 50% of the $29 million disbursed. Education (9%), Foreign Affairs (9%), Youth Development (8%) and Health Care (8%) rounded out the top 5. Conversely, Housing & Shelter grants represented just 1% of the foundation giving to the Top 10 locations.
To see the full State of Giving Report, visit http://bit.ly/2GqxlA5.
