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The good: Corporate foundation giving was up more than 6.5 percent in 2007, to approximately $4.4 billion, according to a new summary report from the Foundation Center. The report also notes that:
- Adjusted for inflation, such giving has nearly doubled since 1990.
- Education was the top priority of corporate foundations across regions, comprising about a quarter of grant dollars.
- Banking and finance were the most generous funders, combining for 23.3 percent of corporate foundation giving last year.
- The Northeast (34 percent) and Midwest (30 percent) accounted for the largest shares of corporate foundation giving. Uh, hello, anybody home on the West Coast? Where’s the high-tech sector? Entertainment?
The bad: The Foundation Center reports that giving by corporate foundations is growing at a slower rate than that by other foundations.
The ugly: In the report, 54 percent of corporate foundations surveyed expect their giving to increase in 2008. Yes, this year. In this economic climate. That sounds to me as if America’s corporate foundation directors didn’t want to sound like heartless bastards and tell surveyors the truth — that tightened belts pinch a lot of waistlines, and that nonprofits better be prepared to hear “Sorry, we can’t” more often than they did last year. | 501(c)
