The Philanthropic Landscape - National Committee For Responsive

THE PHILANTHROPIC LANDSCAPE
The State of Multi-Year Funding
By Niki Jagpal and Kevin Laskowski
Multi-year funding¹ is essential for nonprofits’
effectiveness, impact and growth. During the last few
years, grantmakers have reported significantly fewer
grant dollars for multi-year support, and the outlook is
uncertain for this vital way in which grantmakers can
increase nonprofit effectiveness and capacity.
NCRP examined available annual data on multi-year
grants authorized from 2004 to 2010 to assess trends
in multi-year grantmaking among more than 1,400
grantmakers and among a matched set of 391 funders.
The analysis found that:
• In 2009, reported multi-year grantmaking declined
21 percent to $5.5 billion from its $6.9 billion peak
the previous year. Overall grantmaking declined
13 percent. If the nation’s largest grantmaker, the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, were excluded
from our analysis, reported multi-year grantmaking
would have decreased by more than a third.
• Grantmakers have so far reported authorizing $4.7
billion in multi-year grants in 2010, an additional
decline from 2009 and well below even 2006
levels of $5.3 billion.²
• Foundations that report multi-year funding provide
such grant dollars at consistently substantial, if not
exemplary, levels.
• However, each year, only one-tenth of sampled
funders on average reported some multiyear grantmaking. Ninety percent of sampled
foundations either do not provide multi-year grants
or do not report them.
Clearly, multi-year grants are difficult for nonprofits to
find and secure, and these important grants are likely
to remain scarce for the foreseeable future. Without
intentional effort on the part of trustees and staff of
grantmaking institutions to begin providing significant
multi-year funding, nonprofit sustainability and impact
will continue to be stymied.
The following analysis examines available annual data
on multi-year grants authorized from 2004 to 2010.
NCRP often uses three-year averages to consider a
foundation’s overall commitment to a given practice,
but, in this case, three-year averages of 2008-2010
would obscure foundation decisions during those years,
prompting us to take a closer look at grantmaking on an
annual basis.
AT A GLANCE3
$5.5B Total reported multi-year support in 2009
25% Share of grant dollars reported as multi-year
support in 2009
4% Average foundation share of giving
classified as multi-year support in 2009
THE CASE FOR MULTI-YEAR FUNDING
In 2009, NCRP’s Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best
encouraged grantmakers to invest in the health, growth
and effectiveness of their nonprofit partners by providing
at least 50 percent of grant dollars as multi-year grants.4
Unencumbered, flexible, long-term funding provides
nonprofits with significant benefits such as:
• The ability to respond to crises and opportunities.
• Capacity building and leadership development
potential.
• The ability to maintain staff continuity and
organizational leadership.
• The organizational capacity to overcome
unforeseeable challenges and improve planning.
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
Multi-year grants offer grantees a firm commitment
of funding for more than one year. It is distinct from
one-year “continuing support grants,” which may be
MULTI-YEAR GRANTMAKING FROM 2004-2010
Reported multi-year giving peaked in 2008 at $6.9
billion (9,250 grants) and now stands at $4.7 billion
(7,835 grants). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
gave away as much as the next six largest foundations
combined in 20096 and has a substantial commitment
to multi-year giving. It accounted for nearly 6 percent
of grants and nearly half (44 percent) of reported
multi-year grant dollars from 2004-2010.
renewed by the same grantee but require a new application process each year. Continuing grants are important,
but exemplary grantmakers provide multi-year grants.5
FIGURE 1. REPORTED MULTI-YEAR GRANT DOLLARS, 2004-2010
All Grantmakers
Gates Foundation
$8 billion
$6 billion
$4 billion
$2 billion
$0
The number of grants provided as multi-year support
declined 17 percent in 2009. Reports of multiyear grants are up for 2010, but are still below
2006 levels. Because the 2010 dataset is still being
finalized, it is possible that the number of multi-year
grants might increase.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
FIGURE 2. REPORTED MULTI-YEAR GRANTS, 2004-2010
All Grantmakers
Gates Foundation
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
The majority of the Gates Foundation’s grant dollars go to international causes. According to the foundation’s
most recent annual report, Global Development and Global Health comprised $2.6 billion (82 percent of total
grants paid) compared to $487 million (15 percent of total grants paid) for U.S. program areas.7 This suggests that
the availability of multi-year grants for domestic U.S.-focused activities may be far less than it may appear.
On average from 2004-2010, only one-tenth of all sampled funders reported some multi-year grantmaking; of those
that did, an average of 41 percent of them reported giving at least half of their grant dollars as multi-year grants.
2
HOW MUCH MULTI-YEAR FUNDING DO
GRANTMAKERS PROVIDE?
Reported multi-year giving never comprised more
than 28 percent of total grant dollars or 6 percent of
grants authorized for the years analyzed.
FIGURE 3. PERCENTAGE OF GRANTS AND GRANT DOLLARS
AS MULTI-YEAR FUNDING ACROSS ALL FOUNDATIONS
Grants
Grant Dollars
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
Among foundations that do report multi-year giving,
though, it has comprised as much as three-quarters
(75 percent) of total giving and 29 percent of grants
authorized.8
Among those foundations that report multi-year
giving, shares of multi-year grant dollars and grants
peak in 2007, rather than in 2008 as in the broader
sample. With multi-year funds already committed
in an uncertain market, it is likely that these funders
began authorizing fewer grants starting in late 2008.
The multi-year giving of this matched set of 391 funders
follows the same path as the full sample, peaking in
2008, falling in 2009 to levels below those in 2006.
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
FIGURE 4. PERCENTAGE OF GRANTS AND GRANT DOLLARS
FROM MULTI-YEAR GIVERS
Grants
Grant Dollars
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
A DIFFERENT LENS TO ANALYZE MULTI-YEAR
GRANTMAKING
Because the Foundation Center’s grants database
samples different foundations every year, the Center
compiled a matched set of 391 foundations that
appeared in each annual sample from 2004-2010
to test whether or not the trends observed in the full
sample held true among a consistent group.
2004
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
FIGURE 5. REPORTED MULTI-YEAR GRANT DOLLARS, 20042010, MATCHED SET
All Grantmakers
Gates Foundation
$8 billion
$6 billion
$4 billion
$2 billion
$0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
The Philanthropic Landscape: The State of Multi-Year Funding (Revised Edition)
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National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
The Gates Foundation again comprises 6 percent of
multi-year grants made and nearly half (45.2 percent) of
the sampled multi-year grant dollars.
FIGURE 6. REPORTED MULTI-YEAR GRANTS, 2004-2010,
MATCHED SET
All Grantmakers
Gates Foundation
10,000
Confining the analysis to only known multi-year givers,
the shares of total giving and the average percentage
given as multi-year grants is consistently higher
compared to the field as a whole. While the share of
grant dollars given is consistently high among these
funders, the share of grants given as multi-year grants is
considerably less.
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
In the matched set of 391 grantmakers, 20 percent
of funders reported some multi-year grantmaking; of
those that did, two-thirds of them on average reported
giving at least half of their grant dollars as multi-year
grants. Again, among multi-year funders, shares of
grant dollars and grants made as multi-year grants
peaked in 2007. These findings suggest that, among
those who give multi-year grants, such giving is consistently substantial.
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
FIGURE 7. SHARES PERCENTAGE OF GRANTS AND GRANT
DOLLARS FROM MULTI-YEAR GIVERS 2004-2010, MATCHED SET
Grants
Grant Dollars
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
LARGEST MULTI-YEAR FUNDERS
In 2009, 51 grantmakers (4 percent of the 2009 overall sample) reported authorizing at least 50 percent of their
grant dollars as multi-year grants, the level encouraged by NCRP.
TABLE 1. LARGEST FUNDERS BY SHARE OF TOTAL GIVING FOR MULTI-YEAR GRANTS IN 2009
MULTI-YEAR SUPPORT
FOUNDATION NAME
4
TYPE¹
STATE
AMOUNT
PERCENTAGE
William T. Grant Foundation
IN
NY
$13,268,527
99.8%
James S. McDonnell Foundation
IN
MO
$13,647,685
97.2%
Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Inc.
IN
IN
$30,660,000
96.4%
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
FM
WA
$2,895,910,000
96.1%
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
IN
NY
$188,164,400
94.6%
Bush Foundation
IN
MN
$43,230,451
94.1%
Lavelle Fund for the Blind, Inc.
IN
NY
$3,587,228
94.1%
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
IN
NY
$73,084,026
94.0%
TABLE 1. LARGEST FUNDERS BY SHARE OF TOTAL GIVING FOR MULTI-YEAR GRANTS IN 2009 (CONTINUED)
MULTI-YEAR SUPPORT
FOUNDATION NAME
TYPE¹
STATE
AMOUNT
PERCENTAGE
The California Wellness Foundation
IN
CA
$44,260,000
93.5%
William Talbott Hillman Foundation
IN
PA
$1,010,000
93.5%
The Educational Foundation of America
FM
CT
$9,384,667
92.7%
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
IN
NC
$20,932,350
89.9%
The James Irvine Foundation
IN
CA
$55,766,000
88.4%
Lumina Foundation for Education, Inc.
IN
IN
$49,465,300
87.6%
Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
IN
NC
$20,376,219
85.9%
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
IN
NY
$46,393,907
85.8%
The Wallace Foundation
IN
NY
$25,565,000
85.6%
The McKnight Foundation
FM
MN
$38,084,500
85.3%
Foundation for Child Development
IN
NY
$1,080,097
83.4%
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
IN
MI
$182,692,199
83.4%
Carnegie Corporation of New York
IN
NY
$89,037,020
81.6%
Kansas Health Foundation
IN
KS
$11,368,184
80.2%
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
IN
IL
$159,732,500
80.0%
Harold Simmons Foundation
CS
TX
$6,170,000
80.0%
W. M. Keck Foundation
FM
CA
$16,850,000
79.9%
¹ CS=corporate, FM=family, IN=independent
TABLE 2. THE 25 LARGEST MULTI-YEAR FUNDERS BY TOTAL GIVING IN 2009
MULTI-YEAR SUPPORT
FOUNDATION NAME
TYPE¹
STATE
AMOUNT
PERCENTAGE
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
FM
WA
$2,895,910,000
96.1%
Ford Foundation
IN
NY
$311,737,814
69.5%
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
IN
NJ
$192,571,877
65.5%
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
IN
NY
$188,164,400
94.6%
W. K. Kellogg Foundation
IN
MI
$182,692,199
83.4%
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
IN
CA
$165,166,600
73.2%
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
IN
IL
$159,732,500
80.0%
The Kresge Foundation
IN
MI
$122,954,629
66.0%
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
FM
CA
$89,583,593
34.2%
Carnegie Corporation of New York
IN
NY
$89,037,020
81.6%
The Rockefeller Foundation
IN
NY
$88,375,330
67.6%
Doris Duke Charitable Trust
IN
NY
$73,084,026
94.0%
The Philanthropic Landscape: The State of Multi-Year Funding (Revised Edition)
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National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
TABLE 2. THE 25 LARGEST MULTI-YEAR FUNDERS BY TOTAL GIVING IN 2009 (CONTINUED)
MULTI-YEAR SUPPORT
FOUNDATION NAME
TYPE¹
STATE
AMOUNT
PERCENTAGE
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
IN
MI
$62,504,510
62.4%
The James Irvine Foundation
IN
CA
$55,766,000
88.4%
Lumina Foundation for Education, Inc.
IN
IN
$49,465,300
87.6%
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
IN
NY
$46,393,907
85.8%
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
IN
FL
$45,780,547
75.8%
The California Wellness Foundation
IN
CA
$44,260,000
93.5%
Bush Foundation
IN
MN
$43,230,451
94.1%
The McKnight Foundation
FM
MN
$38,084,500
85.3%
The William Penn Foundation
FM
PA
$33,808,116
71.8%
Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Inc.
IN
IN
$30,660,000
96.4%
The Wallace Foundation
IN
NY
$25,565,000
85.6%
Meyer Memorial Trust
IN
OR
$22,118,870
77.4%
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
IN
NC
$20,932,350
89.9%
¹ FM=family, IN=independent
METHODOLOGY
NCRP worked with the Foundation Center to develop
custom datasets using the center’s grants sample
database, which includes detailed information on all
grants of $10,000 or more awarded to organizations
by more than 1,300 of the largest foundations in the
United States. Grants to individuals are not included
TABLE 3. OVERVIEW OF DATA SET
MATCHED SAMPLE
OVERALL SAMPLE
YEAR AUTHORIZED
6
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
20109
1,124
1,218
1,399
1,401
1,437
1,312
1,091
Foundations Reporting Multi-Year
Commitments (Number)
109
104
122
121
150
141
136
Foundations Reporting Multi-Year
Commitments (Percent)
10%
9%
9%
9%
10%
11%
13%
Reported Median Share of Grant
Dollars for Multi-Year Giving
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Foundations in Set
391
391
391
391
391
391
391
Foundations Reporting Multi-Year
Commitments (Number)
76
71
73
71
87
89
80
Foundations Reporting Multi-Year
Commitments (Percent)
19%
18%
19%
18%
22%
23%
20%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Foundations in Set
Reported Median Share of Grant
Dollars for Multi-Year Giving
in the file. International grants are included. For
community foundations, discretionary grants and
donor-advised funds are included. The Center’s
grants classification system provides much more
detail on current giving trends than other data
sources and represents approximately half of the
foundation grantmaking in the United States.
to Steven Lawrence, Director of Research at the
Foundation Center, for his review and guidance.
NOTES
1. Statistics in a previous version of this report misstated levels
of multi-year grantmaking because of a programming error
at the Foundation Center. The mistake prompted a different approach that corrects the rec-ord and more accurately
NCRP examined available annual data on multi-year
grants authorized from 2004 to 2010 to observe trends
in multi-year grantmaking among more than 1,400
grantmakers and among a matched set of 391 funders.
reflects recent trends in multi-year giving. See Niki Jagpal and
Kevin Laskowski, “Errors in “The Philanthropic Landscape,”
Keeping a Close Eye…, September 7, 2012, http://blog.ncrp.
org/2012/09/errors-in-philanthropic-landscape.html.
2. Figures presented for 2010 are based on data available at the
Figures for multi-year giving are captured only for
foundations that provided full authorized grant
amounts and grant durations either publicly or directly
to the Foundation Center. Foundations noted in the
data as giving zero to multi-year support either did
not give such grants or did not provide enough
information to code them as such. NCRP encourages
grantmakers to contact the Foundation Center to
ensure appropriate classification of their grants.
time of this analysis. Because of differences in foundation fiscal years and the timing of 990 filings, the Foundation Center
is continuing to collect and process data for grants authorized
in 2010. The percentage of known multi-year funders appears
higher in 2010 because most of the larger multi-year funders
are included in the sample. Once the full set is complete, the
shares of known multi-year funders will likely decrease.
3. Figures from 2009 represent the latest complete dataset.
4. Niki Jagpal, Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks
to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact (Washington, D.C.:
For more information, please contact research@
ncrp.org.
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, 2009).
5. Ibid.
6. The Foundation Center, “50 Largest Foundations by Total
Giving, 2009,” (New York, N.Y.: The Foundation Center,
Niki Jagpal is research and policy director at the
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
2011), http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/statistics/
pdf/11_topfdn_type/2009/top50_tg_all_09.pdf.
7. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Building Better Lives
Kevin Laskowski is research and policy associate at the
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
Together: 2011 Annual Report (2012), http://www.gatesfoundation.org/annualreport/2011/Pages/home-en.aspx.
8. See note 2.
The authors would like to extend a special thanks
9. See note 2.
ABOUT NCRP
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) aims to ensure that philanthropy contributes
in meaningful ways to the creation of a fair, just and equitable world. We promote philanthropy that serves
the public good, is responsive to people and communities with the least wealth and opportunity, and is held
accountable to the highest standards of integrity and openness.
For more information, please contact us at:
1331 H Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20005
P: 202.387.9177 | F: 202.332.5084 | E-mail: info@ncrp.org
www.ncrp.org | blog.ncrp.org
The Philanthropic Landscape: The State of Multi-Year Funding (Revised Edition)
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