Posted on March 6, 2006

print  e-mail

Foundation Giving for Most Major Program Areas Rebounded in 2004, Report Finds

Following a two-year decline, foundation support for most major program areas rebounded in 2004, a new report from the New York City-based Foundation Center finds.

According to Foundation Giving Trends: An Update on Funding Priorities, grant dollars awarded by the largest private and community foundations increased 8 percent between 2003 and 2004, while the number of grants increased 5 percent. Among major program areas, science and health experienced the fastest growth in terms of grant dollars.

A key factor in the rise in giving for health was a ten-year, $750 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Washington, D.C.-based Vaccine Fund to support the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. That grant helped to raise health's share of overall giving to a record 22.3 percent in 2004, from 19.5 percent the previous year. Focused on improving access to child vaccines in the poorest countries in the world, the grant also led to record levels of support for children and youth and the economically disadvantaged.

Foundation Giving Trends documents all of the grants of $10,000 or more awarded by 1,172 of the largest U.S. foundations and tracks changes in funding trends since 1995. Grants awarded by these funders in 2004 totaled $15.5 billion and represented roughly half of overall U.S. foundation giving.

To read or download highlights of the report (4 pages, PDF), visit: http://fdncenter.org/research/trends_analysis/pdf/fgt06highlights.pdf.

“Science and Health Led Rebound in Foundation Giving in 2004.” Foundation Center Press Release 3/06/06.

Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Location(s): National, United States

FC008745