Additional Research on U.S. Foundations
Foundation Staffing is part of
the annual Foundations Today Series of reports on foundation growth and
trends in foundation giving. Other reports in the series include Foundation
Yearbook, Foundation Giving Trends, Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates,
and Foundation Reporting.
“Highlights” of Foundation Staffing
and other Foundation Center research publications can be accessed at no
charge from the “Researching Philanthropy” area of the Foundation Center’s Web
site, www.foundationcenter.org/research.
Key Findings from the Foundation Staffing Report
Share
of Larger Foundations Reporting Staff Continues to Decline. The share of larger U.S. foundations reporting paid staff
continued to inch downward, from 16.5 percent in 2001 to 16.1 percent in 2002--well
below the corresponding figure of 22.7% in 1992. The boom in new foundation
creation over the past decade far outpaced increases in the number of staffed
foundations. Still, the actual number of staffed foundations rose to 3,228 in
2002 from 3,123 in the prior year. The number of staff employed by these funders
also grew to 17,515, compared to 17,013 in the prior year.
Average Number of Staff Reported Surpasses Median Number.
In 2002, staffed foundations employed an average of 5.4 staff
and a median of 2.0 staff to develop projects, review and investigate proposals,
and work with the public. Among the 3,228 larger grantmakers reporting staff
in the current year, over three-fifths (63.2%) employed two or fewer staff.
In contrast, only about 8.0 percent indicated a staff size of ten or more, while
just 30 foundations employed a staff of 50 or more. Yet this represented double
the 15 foundations reporting staff of this size in 1992.
Larger Foundations More Likely to
Employ Staff. About three-quarters (75.2%) of foundations with at least
$100 million in assets in 2002 reported paid staff. The proportion declined
steadily for foundations with smaller endowments. Those foundations with at
least $100 million in assets—2.8% of surveyed foundation—also accounted for
about 10,000 staff positions, or nearly three-fifths (57.1%) of the 17,515 staff
employed by all foundations.
Older Foundations More Likely to Employ
Staff. Slightly over two-fifths (41.6%) of surveyed foundations established
before 1950 employed paid staff in 2002. By comparison, over one-quarter (26.2%)
of foundations established between 1950 and 1979 and about one-ninth (10.6%)
of grantmakers established since 1979 reported staff. Moreover, older foundations
employed an average of 9.7 staff, far exceeding those established between 1950
and 1979 (6.0 staff) and since 1979 (3.1 staff). Nonetheless, the median number
of staff positions remained consistent at 2.0 regardless of period of establishment.
Foundations in the West and South
More Likely to Employ Staff. Despite the concentration of larger and older
foundations in the Northeast and Midwest, the West reported larger shares of
staffed foundations. Overall, close to one-in-five (18.3%) Western foundations
employed staff, followed by the South (16.7%), Midwest (16.6%), and Northeast
(14.2%). This finding suggests a willingness among funders in the West to bring
on staff earlier in their development.
Community and Corporate Foundations
More Likely to Employ Staff. In 2002, more than eight out of ten (82.5%)
surveyed community foundations reported paid staff. This finding reflects the
multiple activities of community foundations beyond grantmaking, such as cultivating
and servicing new donors. Corporate foundations—which are funded by a parent
company, although they remain separate legal entities—followed with one out
of four (25.0%) employing staff dedicated primarily to the administration of
their foundations. In contrast, only about one-in-seven independent foundations
(13.5%), including the great majority of small foundations, indicated that they
employed paid staff.
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 its mission, it: collects, organizes, and communicates information
on U.S. philanthropy; conducts and facilitates research on trends in the field;
provides education and training on the grantseeking process; and ensures public
access to information and services through its 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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