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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.

Values-Aligned Philanthropy for Community Foundations

June 9, 2022

Anti-democratic extremism, hate speech, and politically-motivated violence are on the rise. As daunting as that is, imagine waking up to calls from reporters--or actual headlines--saying that your community foundation has funded these efforts. With policymakers, journalists, and activists seeking to determine how hate groups are funded, philanthropic organizations have come under a magnifying glass. The vast majority of foundation funding goes to charities clearly acting in the public interest, but the prevalence of hate and extremism has raised public concern about how violence and hate groups are funded. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported this funding to be $52.8 million in 2018, from 351 foundations. Through our Values-Aligned Philanthropy project, the Council on Foundations is encouraging foundations to take steps to ensure that they are not funding hate. We have published a white paper, which created a landscape scan of the issue and the work being done in the philanthropic sector to combat hate funding. We also maintain an online hub with updated links to resources and sample policies.This toolkit is the latest addition to these resources: a step-by-step guide for community foundations developing and implementing an anti-hate policy. Many of the foundations who contributed to our white paper described not knowing where to start in developing an antihate policy, and asked for guidance and resources. Because the most effective policies will align with a foundation's values, mission, and community needs, there is no one template that will work for every community foundation. This toolkit provides a how-to guide for navigating the questions you will need to answer, as well as suggestions for structure and wording for different types of policies you can modify to meet your needs. 

Values-Aligned Philanthropy: Foundations Resisting Hate and Extremism

October 5, 2021

In late 2020, the Council on Foundations (the Council) launched the Values-Aligned Philanthropy project to continue to build on their previous efforts within the philanthropic sector to respond to growing concern about the issue of funding hate and extremism. The Council took this step recognizing that while there is significant work being done by grantmakers and social sector leaders across the country to prevent hate funding, there has not been a comprehensive analysis of what has been done and who is doing what from the perspective of philanthropy. The Council believes that mapping the eco-system will provide a baseline for identifying gaps, best practices, and next steps to addressing this problem. Research and writing for the project have been provided by Roey Thorpe, an independent consultant, with guidance from Council staff.

Balancing Purpose, Payout, and Permanence: Strategy Guide

August 1, 2020

Private foundations are reexamining questions of why, when, and how to respond to short-term and long-term crises. They are finding new flexibility and creative solutions as they examine the soul of their institutions and their role as stewards. This strategy guide examines options for how private foundations can approach financial stewardship, especially in troubled times.

The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations, 2011-2015

August 14, 2018

The State of Global Grantmaking Giving by U.S. Foundations is the latest report in a decades-long collaboration between Foundation Center and The Council on Foundations and aims to help funders and civil society organizations better navigate the giving landscape as they work to effect change around the world. The analysis reveals that global giving by U.S. foundations increased by 29% from 2011 to 2015, reaching an all-time high of $9.3 billion in 2015. In addition to a detailed analysis of trends by issue area, geographic region, population group, and donor strategy, this analysis also relates these trends to key events and developments, including the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, the spread of Ebola in West Africa, and the increasing legal restrictions faced by civil society in countries around the world.

Voter Engagement Toolkit for Community Foundations

April 2, 2018

The new foundation toolkit lifts up concrete ideas and examples for community and public foundations to encourage voter engagement among their grantees and networks. Strategies range from communications, resource sharing, and nonprofit trainings to integration into programs and grantmaking or donor and grantee education.

Voter Engagement Toolkit for Private Foundations

April 2, 2018

This guide lifts up concrete ideas and examples for how private foundations can encourage voter engagement among their grantees and networks. Private foundations, like public foundations, may support a range of voter engagement activities as long as it's on a nonpartisan basis. The two important differences are funding voter registration drives or ballot measures and are explained in the nonpartisan section.

Local Leadership, Global Impact: Community Foundations and the Sustainable Development Goals

February 5, 2018

Local Leadership, Global Impact: Community Foundations and the Sustainable Development Goals highlights the growing presence and impact of community foundations around the world and teaches community foundations how to apply the lens of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) to their work.The report recommends ten steps for community foundations to get started on using the SDGs as a tool to improve quality of life in their communities. These steps include learning about the SDGs, mapping the SDGs to local challenges, using data to create local goals, building cross-sector ownership of solutions and monitoring progress. The report also features case studies highlighting how community foundations around the world, from the United States and Canada to northeastern Brazil and Warsaw, Poland, have used the SDGs as a frame for their local work.

WINGS and EFC webinar: How can philanthropy engage around FATF money laundering and terrorism financing policy and implementation?

November 8, 2017

You may have heard about "FATF" the global standard-setter in the fight against money laundering, and the financing of terrorism. But what does FATF's work have to do with institutional philanthropy? Learn more about the key issues at stake. Speakers: Hanna Surmatz, European Foundation Centre Natalie Ross, Council on Foundations Isabel Peñalosa, Spanish Association of Foundations Miguel de la Vega, consultant for NPOs Mexico. Presentation slides of the webinar on FATF hosted by WINGS and the EFC. 

International Giving by U.S. Community Foundations: Local Communities with Global Reach

July 13, 2017

This report, a joint effort by the Council on Foundations and Foundation Center, examines the current state and recent trends in international giving and engagement by large U.S. community foundations. The first-ever analysis of this type suggests that many community foundations are beginning to adopt a broader, more nuanced definition of "community" than they have in the past.The report documents how funds channeled from U.S. community foundations support international programs and recipients and highlights five U.S. community foundations and their approaches to global engagement and international grantmaking. For this report, we analyzed all the international grants made by U.S. community foundations included in Foundation Center's set of 1,000 of the largest U.S. Foundations from 2011 to 2014, which included 10,533 grants worth $697 million.

Evaluation in Philanthropy: Perspectives From the Field

April 3, 2017

This publication offers a brief overview of how grantmakers are looking at evaluation through an organizational learning and effectiveness lens. It is based on a review of the current literature on evaluation and learning, outreach to grantmakers that have made these activities a priority and the work of GEO and the Council to raise this issue more prominently among their memberships. Many of these grantmakers are testing new approaches to gathering and sharing information about their work and the work of their grantees. We share the learning and evaluation stories of 19 GEO members in the pages that follow.

Community Foundation Business Model Disruption in the 21st Century

February 1, 2017

With the pace of change in our world, disruption is a natural state in communities everywhere. Change is the new normal. So how do community foundations, institutions of long-standing tradition and influential in how communities address change, adapt themselves to the new normal? Competitive advantage flows to the organizations that see and act on those shifts first. Most community foundations are concerned that without growth, they will fall behind and no longer be well-positioned to in their communities.Kevin Murphy, President and CEO of the Berks County Community Foundation and the Council on Foundations' first Foundation Leader in Residence, explores such disruptions to the community foundation business model, the rationale of asset growth, how changes in the local financial services field may force some fundamental changes on community foundations, and more in Community Foundation Business Model Disruption in the 21st Century. While the views expressed in this paper are those of Kevin Murphy and not the Council on Foundations, it is the Council's role to lift up timely, pressing, and often provocative conversations about the field of philanthropy.