FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 2002
CONTACT:
Loren Renz, Vice President for Research
The Foundation Center (212) 807-3601
e-mail: lr@foundationcenter.org
Web: www.foundationcenter.org
New Report Finds Strong Growth in
Foundation Giving through 2000
ALL AREAS BENEFIT—ESPECIALLY LESS FUNDED
ARTS FIELDS
Continuing a decade-long tradition of examining foundation
support for arts and culture, the Foundation Center has just released a special
Arts Funding Update. The brief report provides an overview of
the growth and distribution of foundation funding for the arts, culture, media,
and humanities from 1996 to 2000, a period of record increases in foundation
giving overall. It also explores how the arts fared relative to other foundation
priorities (such as education and health) and examines changes in giving by
arts field, type of support, and funder and recipient locations.
“Foundations have traditionally provided vital resources
to the U.S. arts community, from capital projects to commissioning new works,”
noted Loren Renz, vice president for research at the Foundation Center. “This
report documents the dramatic growth in their arts giving in the late 1990s.”
Arts Funding Update was created by the Foundation
Center’s research staff to recognize “Funding for the Arts Month,” a Foundation
Center-wide event spanning the month of June that will feature a wide range
of special programs, new resources, and Web site content focused on funding
for the arts.
Arts Funding Update
Estimates Overall Foundation Support
The new report includes estimates of overall foundation
giving for the arts from 1996 to 2000. Among key findings:
- Overall Growth of Arts Funding. Giving
for arts and culture by all U.S. foundations climbed to an estimated $3.7
billion in 2000, up more than twofold from $1.8 billion in 1996. Adjusted
for inflation, arts and culture giving grew an unprecedented 83.0 percent
during this period, or 16.3 percent a year. Growth in estimated arts giving
by all U.S. foundations slightly outpaced increases in giving across all fields
between 1996 and 2000.
- Key Factors Influencing Gains in Arts Funding.
Spurring the increase in arts funding was a doubling and, in some
cases, tripling of investments by several leading arts funders—such as the
Ford, Andrew W. Mellon, John S. and James L. Knight, and David and Lucile
Packard foundations; an infusion of grants by major new donors—notably the
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; and consistently high levels of support
by small- to medium-sized funders.
- Foundation Giving as a Share of All Private Arts
Support. Strong growth in giving for the arts helped raise foundations’
share of all private arts giving from less than 30 percent in 1995 to approximately
35 percent in 1998 (the latest year for which comparable IRS data on sources
of income were available).
Grants Analysis Maps Trends in Foundation
Arts Giving
Arts Funding Update also examines trends in foundation
arts grantmaking between 1996 and 2000 based on grants of $10,000 or more awarded
by a sample of over 1,000 of the nation’s largest foundations. Among key findings:
- Growth in Arts Giving Among Sampled Foundations.
For the more than 1,000 sampled foundations, grant dollars for the
arts grew slightly slower between 1996 and 2000 than overall giving (99.9
percent vs. 106.3 percent), while the number of arts grants grew faster (60.1
percent vs. 53.0 percent). In 2000, these larger foundations awarded 17,835
arts grants totaling nearly $1.8 billion, up from 11,137 grants totaling roughly
$900 million four years earlier.
- Share of Foundation Giving for the Arts. Among
all foundations in the sample, support for the arts as a share of overall
funding has eroded slightly—from an average of 13 to 15 percent of grant
dollars in the 1980s, to an average of 12 to 13 since the mid-1990s. Still,
among smaller foundations in the sample, arts giving as a share of overall
giving remains above 15 percent.
- Changes in Arts Giving by Field or Discipline.
Nearly every area of the arts experienced exceptional growth in funding
between 1996 and 2000. Yet the fastest growing areas included fields that
traditionally receive a much smaller share of support—notably the Visual Arts
and Architecture, the Humanities, and Multidisciplinary Arts. Despite this
faster growth, the Performing Arts and Museum Activities continued to account
for the largest shares of support. In 2000, they together received more than
three-fifths of foundations’ arts and culture grant dollars and grants.
- Arts Giving by Types of Support. More than
seven-tenths of 2000 arts grant dollars funded specific projects (38.2 percent)
and capital support (32.4 percent), while one-fifth (21.9 percent) provided
operating support. Compared to foundation giving across fields, arts grant
dollars provided a significantly higher share of support for capital projects
and operating support.
- Arts Giving by Region. Foundations in the
Northeast provided nearly two-fifths of all foundation arts dollars and grants
in 2000, while Midwestern foundations ranked second with approximately one-fourth
of arts dollars and grants.
The complete Arts Funding Update report can be accessed
at no charge from the “Researching Philanthropy” area of the Foundation Center’s
Web site: www.foundationcenter.org/research/trends_analysis.
“Funding for Arts Month” Programs
and Resources
During June, 2002, the Foundation Center will offer a wide
range of arts-related programs, publications, and Web-based content and services
through its Web site and five libraries/learning centers. The key goal of "Funding
for Arts Month" is to offer representatives of nonprofit organizations
and individuals in the arts opportunities to learn directly from grantmakers
in the arts, other successful grantseekers, and technical assistance providers.
The Center will also introduce “ArtsTalk” at its Web site—a new arts funding
message board that will serve as a discussion forum for individual artists and
people representing arts organizations to share fundraising strategies and tips.
Visit www.foundationcenter.org/focus/arts
for schedules of events, listings of publications, and information on other
"Funding for Arts Month” resources.
About the Foundation Center
The Foundation Center’s mission is to support and improve
institutional philanthropy by promoting public understanding of the field and
helping grantseekers succeed. To achieve our mission, we collect, organize,
and communicate information on U.S. philanthropy; conduct and facilitate research
on trends in the field; provide education and training on the grantseeking process;
and ensure public access to information and services through our World Wide
Web site, print and electronic publications, five library/learning centers,
and a national network of cooperating collections. Founded in 1956, the Center
is the nation’s leading authority on institutional philanthropy and is dedicated
to serving grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media,
and the general public.
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