The following is an examination of foundation and corporate support in response to the
current economic crisis. It is part of an ongoing Foundation Center research series
intended to shed light on the impact of the economic downturn on the nonprofit sector.
A First Look at the Foundation
and Corporate Response to the
Economic Crisis
January 2009
by Steven Lawrence, Senior Director of Research
Unlike most natural or humanitarian disasters, the impact
of the current economic downturn is not bound by time
or place and has affected donors as well as those needing
their assistance. Despite the loss of philanthropic resources
inflicted by this still unfolding crisis, a growing number
of grantmakers have expressed their willingness to take
exceptional measures to address the new challenges
that have arisen. The Foundation Center has tracked
and mapped online close to 50 foundations and
corporations that have already announced over
$100 million in grants and program-related investments
for efforts ranging from reducing the number of
foreclosures to shoring up food banks and services for the
homeless to providing financial counseling.
Mapping the Safety Net
in Real Time
The Foundation Center is constantly
monitoring and collecting the most recent
data on U.S. foundation and corporate
support in response to the economic crisis.
This information is easily accessed at foundationcenter.org on an interactive map
displaying grants and program-related
investments (PRIs), which is updated weekly
and supplemented by a daily RSS grant feed.
To submit grants data for inclusion, please
contact Matthew Ross, Manager of Special
Data Projects, at mr@foundationcenter.org.
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An examination of the support provided by these initial
responders suggests that they are focusing strongly—but by
no means exclusively—on addressing the impact of the
economic crisis in their home communities. Consistent
with this observation, community foundations appear to
be playing a critical role in responding to the increased
need within their geographic areas. Their extensive local
knowledge, combined with their willingness to serve as
intermediaries for both individual and institutional giving,
makes them especially valuable in the current situation.
Yet, it is also important to note that a number of these
institutional donors, especially corporate funders, have
directed their economic crisis-response support nationally.
Beyond the specific efforts highlighted
below, many foundations and
corporations will be responding to the
economic crisis in a less visible but
equally critical way. These funders will
strive to maintain stable levels of
giving—or minimize reductions in
funding—despite pronounced losses in
income and the value of their assets.
The Cleveland, Ohio–based George
Gund Foundation, for example, will do
this by reducing its operating costs and
increasing the amount it pays out
relative to its assets.
Institutional Donors
Respond
Given the relatively small number
of foundations and corporations that
have publicly announced new
commitments specifically related to the
economic crisis thus far, it is not yet
possible to make definitive statements
about the institutional donor response.
Nonetheless, an examination of the
data we’ve gathered so far does begin
to illustrate the range of approaches
they are taking.
Helping to Stop Foreclosures
Considering the central role of sub-prime
mortgage foreclosures and the
loss of confidence in the financial
instruments that packaged these
mortgages, it is not surprising that
more than half of foundation and
corporate dollars committed so far in
response to the economic crisis focus
on housing issues. The Illinois-based
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation has committed just over
$38 million to address the challenges
facing both homeowners and renters in
the Chicago area, including three
program-related investments (PRIs)
totaling $34 million. The largest of
these PRIs was a $15 million low-interest
deposit for the ShoreBank Corporation’s $100 million Rescue
Loan and Prevention Program, which
seeks to save homeowners from
foreclosures. MacArthur’s largest grant
was a $2.5 million award to
Neighborhood Housing Services of
Chicago for public education and
counseling to prevent foreclosures in
selected Chicago neighborhoods as part
of the organization’s Foreclosure
Prevention and Mitigation Project.
Among other funders that have
provided support specifically
addressing the foreclosure crisis are the
Bank of America Charitable, Boston,
Citi, Ford, George Gund, Kresge,
Skillman, Surdna, and Raymond John
Wean foundations, Countrywide
Home Loans, Inc. Corporate Giving
Program, and the New York
Community Trust.
Source: The Foundation Center, 2009. Figures based on grants and program-related investments announced through January 12,
2009. Includes foundations and corporations reporting at least $500,000 in commitments in response to the economic crisis.
1IN = independent foundation; CS = corporate foundation; CG = corporate giving program; CM = community foundation;
PC = grantmaking public charity
2Company is in the process of merging with Bank of America.
Providing Emergency Assistance
Offering support to meet the basic
needs of area residents has been a
primary focus of many early responders to the economic crisis, especially
community foundations. From the
Boston Foundation and the
Community Foundation for the
National Capital Region in the East to
the Greater Cincinnati and Central
Minnesota community foundations in
the Midwest to the Marin and Silicon
Valley community foundations in the
West, the majority of community
foundations included in the initial
group of funders have provided
support for emergency heat, rent,
and/or utilities assistance. Many have
also funded emergency food assistance.
Yet, this type of funding did not come
solely from community foundations.
For example, the Arizona-based
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
awarded three grants totaling
$50,000 to support meal services at
the Association of Arizona Food Banks,
Andre House of Arizona, and Paz de
Cristo Community Center as part of
its Community Relief Grants Program.
Providing shelter and services for the
homeless and those at risk of becoming
homeless also captured a notable share
of the support offered so far. The
Connecticut-based GE Foundation
made the single largest commitment in
this area: a $10.5 million grant to the
United Way of America for homeless
shelters and other organizations that
meet basic needs. Among other
support, the Connecticut-based
Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
awarded a $221,000 grant to the
Chrysalis Center to provide support
services for homeless veterans, while
the Community Foundation for the
National Capital Region made a
$15,000 grant to the National Law
Center on Homelessness and Poverty
for work ensuring that systems are
better equipped to address the needs of
the homeless, as well as families at risk
of becoming homeless.
Finally, support for emergency needs
also extended to animals, with the
Humane Society of the United States
awarding grants through its Financial
Crisis Pet Fund, which was created in
response to reports from shelters of a
marked rise in the number of families
who could not afford to keep or feed
their pets. The Foundation Center has
so far tracked 44 grants totaling nearly
$78,000 made through this fund.
Source: The Foundation Center, 2009. Figures based on grants and program-related investments announced through January
12, 2009. Includes recipients benefiting from at least $500,000 in commitments.
1Living Cities, listed here as a recipient of foundation support, has itself made eight grants in response to the economic crisis
totaling $4 million, which are included in the Foundation Center's interactive map of economic crisis response funding.
Understanding Why It Happened
The economic downturn currently has
no clear end in sight, but that has not
kept several foundations from
supporting efforts to understand how
the crisis came about and ensure that
it does not happen again. For example,
the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has
provided three grants totaling
$1.7 million to the Wharton School at
the University of Pennsylvania, the
National Bureau of Economic
Research, and the Brookings
Institution to study the ongoing
financial market crisis and to improve
public understanding of economics and
finance. The foundation made an
additional $1 million grant to the
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer for a series
of reports on the crisis, with the same
goal of improving the public’s
economic and financial literacy. The
Ford Foundation, through a $300,000
grant to the Levy Economics Institute
at Bard College, has funded a study to
research the nature and dynamics of
the current financial crisis and generate
a new regulatory framework to address
it. The Citi Foundation has also
provided support to underwrite
national work to develop data on the
crisis.
Shoring Up Current Grantees
Most of the support provided by the
close to 50 foundation and corporate
donors examined for this advisory
targeted emergency relief efforts or
initiatives that address the cause of the
current crisis. However, one funder—the Texas–based Michael & Susan Dell
Foundation, took a somewhat different
approach. In November 2008, the foundation awarded 33 one-time,
“surprise” grants of $25,000 each to
organizations working to improve the
lives of children in the Central Texas
area, to recognize their work and help
them fill unexpected gaps in their
operating budgets. As the economic
crisis continues in 2009, this type of
grant may become more common.
Source: The Foundation Center, 2009. Figures based on grants and program-related
investments announced through January 12, 2009. Includes categories
accounting for at least 4 percent of the dollar amount or number of
commitments.
1Includes support for heat, rent, and utilities as well as support for food
assistance and food banks.
What Comes Next
The Foundation Center will continue
collecting and analyzing the
exceptional commitments made by
foundations, corporations, and other
institutional donors in response to the
crisis, with a goal of providing the most
current, comprehensive record
available. We encourage grantmakers to
supply us with detailed information on
their efforts in this area so that we can
incorporate it into our upcoming
research on this subject.
In the coming months, the Center will
also release findings from a national
survey of U.S. foundations on the
impact of the downturn on their
grantmaking and the latest edition of
Foundation Growth and Giving
Estimates, which will offer perspective
on the outlook for foundation giving
in 2009 and 2010.
Source for all data:
The Foundation Center
For more information about this advisory, contact communications@foundationcenter.org.
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