Profile of the Funding Community

Each year the Foundation Center analyzes and interprets the entire body of data collected on active grantmaking foundations. Specifically, the Center measures the dimensions of U.S. grantmaking foundations by overall growth, state and region, foundation type, and period of establishment. This information is published in Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates and Foundation Yearbook. Summary statistics for the latest year include the following:

• In 2009, 76,454 foundations awarded grants totaling $45.8 billion, a decrease of 2.1 percent from the prior year's $46.8 billion in giving.
• Foundations experienced a 4.5 percent increase in assets, rising from $565 billion in 2008 to $590.2 billion in 2009.
• Gifts to foundations from their donors also rose 3.3 percent, from $39.6 billion to $40.9 billion in 2009.