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Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2023

June 1, 2023

This report offers insights into where and how funders are working, their evolving priorities and their role in supporting education innovation that benefits the nation's learners. The 15th anniversary report by Grantmakers for Education -- the first post pandemic -- is based on a survey of 142 education philanthropies. The survey results signal that the pandemic and attention to the ways in which systems disadvantage different communities have shifted the investments and concerns of education philanthropists.Education philanthropies are funding redesign and transformation in the U.S. education system, signaling a fundamental shift in approach.Education funders are very concerned about the politicization of education. Funder interest in supporting a "whole learner" approach is growing, as there is growing recognition that children without access to basic needs and emotional security will not thrive academically.With trust in government eroding, the role of philanthropy as it relates to education has never been more critical, but the impact of philanthropy depends on whether funders can critically examine their own practices.

Foundation Giving for Disability: Priorities and Trends Report

February 1, 2023

One in four adult Americans and an estimated 1 billion people globally experience disability, but foundation funding for disability only represents approximately two cents of every foundation dollar awarded.Foundation Giving for Disability: Priorities and Trends offers a first-ever, detailed examination of how U.S. foundations focus their support for disability communities. It serves as a resource for understanding the scale and priorities of current support and provides a baseline for measuring changes in funding going forward.

The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2022 Edition

September 20, 2022

For 25 years, the Council on Foundations and Candid have partnered on studies of globally focused giving by U.S. foundations. The new edition of The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations dives into 2016-2019 data to provide the latest perspective on how the nation's foundations are supporting critical efforts to improve health outcomes, address climate change, offer access to education, ensure human rights, and engage with a wide array of other global priorities. Through interviews with a selection of global funders, Global Giving also offers insights on how foundations are addressing the critical challenges of our time and where they see signs of optimism and opportunity going forward.Key Report FindingsU.S. private and community foundations included in Candid's Foundation 1000 dataset awarded globally focused grants totaling $8 billion in 2019—close to four times the approximately $2.2 billion awarded in 2002.Health accounted for 49 percent of global grant dollars.The largest shares of funding focused on the Sub-Saharan Africa (25.1%) and Asia & Pacific (17.7%) regions.Among the many issue areas supported by foundations, human rights has realized the fastest growth in global support in recent years. In the 2016-2019 period, human rights reached 11 percent of global foundation grant dollars, up from less than 7 percent in the 2011-2015 period.Roughly 13 percent of U.S. foundations' global grant dollars went directly to organizations based in the country where programs were implemented in the 2016-2019 period, up marginally from approximately 12 percent in the 2011-2015 period.Funding by Foundation 1000 foundations for efforts to counter or mitigate the impact of climate change in the United States and globally totaled nearly $1.8 billion in the 2016-2019 period, up from $1.3 billion in the 2011-2015 period.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation accounted for 44% of global giving by U.S. foundations from 2016 to 2019.

Beginning the Journey: Disability Inclusion Pledge Survey Findings and Recommendations

March 3, 2022

The Disability & Philanthropy Forum is an emerging philanthropy-serving organization created by the Presidents' Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. Central to the Forum's mission is expanding philanthropic commitment to disability rights and justice by centering the leadership of the disability community.To help funders and philanthropy-serving organizations as they engage in their disability inclusion journeys, the Forum created the Disability Inclusion Pledge. The Pledge identifies concrete ways for funders and others in the sector to actively shift away from policies and practices that perpetuate ableism — the systemic stigmatization of and discrimination against people with disabilities — and uplift disability as an essential component of advancing equity.Beginning the Journey: Disability Inclusion Pledge Survey Findings and Recommendations provides a baseline measurement of how current practices and plans of responding Pledge signatories align with each of the eight action agendas included in the Pledge.

Approaching the Intersection: Will a Global Pandemic and National Movement for Racial Justice Take Philanthropy Beyond Its Silos?

January 19, 2021

How is the philanthropic sector responding to the interconnected inequities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and the national movement against policy brutality and racism? Is this time of acute social upheaval leading funders to reevaluate their generally siloed approaches and consider what it will take to address today's challenges in transformational ways? Approaching the Intersection: Will a Global Pandemic and National Movement for Racial Justice Take Philanthropy Beyond Its Silos? explores these questions through conversations with place-based funders and national philanthropy-serving organization (PSO) leaders. It presents a snapshot of a sector that appears receptive to new ways of working, has access to approaches that suggest promise for making transformational change, but is moving cautiously and at times hesitantly toward undertaking the types of fundamental institutional realignment that will enable approaches with the greatest promise for delivering systemic equity and justice.

The Big Vision for the Next Stage of Education Philanthropy

December 9, 2020

Grantmakers for Education (GFE) surveyed our members and others supporting education philanthropy to understand where they as individuals see the greatest opportunities for leveraging action in this quickly evolving reality. Our focus on capturing individual perspectives reflects our view that individual voice is a leading indicator of how institutional priorities and strategies may evolve. Reflecting back the outlook of individuals is especially critical during a time of rapid societal transformation.Benefiting from the insights of a set of member advisors, we identified issues highly relevant to the current moment to home in on five interlocking themes we believe are central to the future of education: Pre-K-12 Educational ImprovementRacial Justice in EducationCivic Education and StudentsPostsecondary and Workforce SuccessPhilanthropy in an Inequitable System

The Africa Funding Landscape: A Profile of Funders Focused on Africa and Perspectives on the Field

October 18, 2019

Funders targeting support to benefit communities in Africa represent a diverse set of grantmakers targeting a broad array of priorities, according to a new report from Africa Grantmakers' Affinity Group (AGAG). In fact, more than half of the survey respondents provide support for two or more issue areas, specified populations, and/or countries or regions.The Africa Funding Landscape: A Profile of Funders Focused on Africa and Perspectives on the Field moves beyond grant dollars to capture the what, how, and why of current funding targeting Africa. The report is based on a survey of private and public funders headquartered in North America, Africa, and other regions.Among the key findings:Human rights and economic development are the top focus areas, followed closely by health and education.Children and youth and women and girls are a focus of well over half of fundersEast Africa was the top regional focus, but the top three countries of focus were South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda.Few funders headquartered outside of Africa report facing significant obstacles in supporting organizations in Africa.Funders are reasonably optimistic about the interest of other grantmakers in supporting similar priorities, suggesting potential for growth in funding targeting Africa.Respondents also cited several challenges to achieving the desired impact of funding in their focus area. Chief among them was inadequate funding. Other challenges included their lack of knowledge about the local landscape and opportunities for engagement, as well as differing priorities of funders and their grantees and "closing space" restrictions on civil society and philanthropy.

Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2018-19

February 1, 2019

Grantmakers for Education's 10th anniversary edition of Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2018-19 offers insights on the current and evolving priorities of the education funding community. This new report identifies significant and profound shifts in education investments toward social and emotional learning and postsecondary and early education, and away from the core K-12 reforms that have largely defined the last decade of policymaking, as well as other relevant findings.

Recalculating the Formula for Success: Public Arts Funders and United Arts Funds Reshape Strategies for the Twenty-First Century

July 20, 2017

Grantmakers in the Arts is pleased to announce the release of new research on the formula-based funding practices of public arts funders and united arts funds. Through interviews with sixteen leaders of public arts funders and united arts funds, Recalculating the Formula for Success documents the new ways that these funders are approaching their work, rethinking longtime practices, and adapting to changing environments.

Seeking an Inclusive Europe : Foundation Grantmaking for Countering Ethnic and Religious Bias and Xenophobia

February 1, 2017

This report intends to respond to ongoing discrimination and increasing violence and the need for greater cultural understanding, inclusion, and equity in Europe. It enables foundations active in addressing bias and promoting social change and rights across Europe to understand their grantmaking priorities in the context of the larger funder community. For foundations that want to become active, it offers numerous examples of approaches funders are taking to address these issues.

Peace and Security Funding Index: An Analysis of Global Foundation Grantmaking

March 31, 2016

The Peace and Security Funding Index: An Analysis of Global Foundation Grantmaking is a first-of-its-kind research project that showcases the foundations and philanthropists dedicated to building a safer, more peaceful and prosperous global future. These funders are investing in efforts to prevent, mitigate, and resolve conflict and to rebuild after conflict. From research on stopping nuclear terrorism to citizen journalism in Egypt, peace and security funders are supporting peace, justice, diplomacy, and dialogue in a variety of ways. In 2013, the latest year data is available, 288 foundations supported over 1,200 organizations with more than $283 million spread across nearly 2,000 grants. The Peace and Security Funders Group (PSFG) and Foundation Center created the Index to help funders, policymakers, and the general public better understand the peace and security funding landscape. The Index identifies who "peace and security" funders are, what issues they fund (e.g., cybersecurity, preventing genocide and atrocities, climate security), where they focus (i.e., specific regions or countries), and how they make an impact (e.g., through public education efforts, journalism, research).

U.S. Foundation Funding for Africa: 2015 Edition

November 18, 2015

U.S. foundations made grants totaling nearly $1.5 billion focused on Africa in 2012. This represented 25 percent of foundations' international giving, up from 14 percent in 2002. Produced by Foundation Center in cooperation with Africa Grantmakers' Affinity Group, this first-ever report examines changes in funding for Africa over the past decade and provides detailed analyses of the distribution of funding in the latest year. The report also explores differences in funding priorities based on whether recipients are headquartered in Africa or outside of the African continent.