Grant Making
at 89 Big Foundations
$170.5-billion
Total assets of the foundations
in The Chronicle’s survey
Ahmanson Foundation (Beverly Hills, Calif.) 1
Annenberg Foundation (Los Angeles) †† 2
Laura and John Arnold Foundation (Houston)
Blandin Foundation (Grand Rapids, Minn.) ††
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation (Milwaukee) **
Broad Foundations (Los Angeles)
James Graham Brown Foundation (Louisville, Ky.) **
Howard G. Buffett Foundation (Decatur, Ill.)
Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (Omaha)
Burroughs Wellcome Fund (Research Triangle Park, N.C.) 3
Bush Foundation (St. Paul)
Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation (Washington) †† 4
J. Bulow Campbell Foundation (Atlanta) **
Carnegie Corporation of New York 5
Amon G. Carter Foundation (Fort Worth) **
Marguerite Casey Foundation (Seattle)
Champlin Foundations (Warwick, R.I.) ††
Clark Foundation (New York) †† 6
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (New York) **
Commonwealth Fund (New York) 2
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation (Lansdowne, Va.) 7
Wallace H. Coulter Foundation (Miami) 5
Nathan Cummings Foundation (New York) **
Daniels Fund (Denver) **
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (New York) ††
Duke Endowment (Charlotte, N.C.) **
Ellison Medical Foundation (Bethesda, Md.) 8
El Pomar Foundation (Colorado Springs) ††
Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (Miami) 5
Ford Family Foundation (Roseburg, Ore.) **
Ford Foundation (New York) 5
Freeman Foundation (New York) **
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Seattle) **
Goizueta Foundation (Atlanta) **
Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund (San Francisco) **
Grainger Foundation (Lake Forest, Ill.)
Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund (San Francisco)
John A. Hartford Foundation (New York) ††
William Randolph Hearst Foundation (New York)
Heinz Endowments (Pittsburgh) ††
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Menlo Park, Calif.) ††
Hillman Family Foundations (Pittsburgh) †† 9
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation (Los Angeles)
Houston Endowment **
James Irvine Foundation (San Francisco) **
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, N.J.) ††
535
301
36
390
533
139
23
92
n/a
n/a
67
405
29
253
200
188
174
92
29
138
792
57
313
672
161
376
76
721
30
437
1,584
83
n/a
21
410
725
n/a
22
125
442
526
559
365
306
472
668
Number of
grants approved
in 2010*
$46,019,929
45,422,874
75,000,000
11,510,000
38,900,000
40,000,000
7,941,388
75,881,401
n/a
4,000,000
9,619,998
24,310,420
18,825,000
97,319,467
23,500,000
24,166,472
17,074,565
25,150,000
36,251,515
23,053,722
18,590,661
n/a
22,200,000
39,147,000
71,135,500
98,216,989
37,843,117
9,300,000
4,200,000
12,589,537
488,982,357
12,835,548
2,200,000,000
14,981,232
39,777,774
18,037,746
25,151,215
5,024,146
16,000,000
47,795,207
217,715,000
7,518,200
67,000,000
70,350,000
63,554,099
261,836,212
Amount of
2010 grants*
37.2%
– 14. 7
50.0
– 36. 3
–8.5
0.0
–66.9
50.7
—
–84.9
–79.5
6. 6
– 14. 1
– 13. 6
9. 3
41.5
—
113.3
16. 3
– 11. 2
– 16. 5
—
27. 4
30. 2
– 19.8
– 10. 2
– 17. 3
– 30.0
0.0
557.9
1. 4
–56.5
39.1
–53.7
33. 3
–43.9
– 22. 4
–78.7
0.0
17. 6
– 7. 4
3,775.4
181.1
40.0
– 4.8
– 12. 4
Percent change
in amount of
grants approved
from 2009
Decrease
Decrease
Increase
Decrease
Unknown
Same
Increase
Same
Unknown
Unknown
Same
Decrease
Increase
Increase
Decrease
Same
Unknown
Unknown
Increase
Increase
Increase
Increase
Increase
Estimated 2011 giving†
$948,000,000
1,616,906,836
670,000,000
380,162,000
629,000,000
1,640,000,000
340,000,000
225,479,890
2,564,255,880
608,038,762
700,000,000
490,000,000
472,347,671
2,534,623,009
480,000,000
594,000,000
395,033,876
402,550,894
813,159,608
604,222,668
554,365,737
317,965,767
413,591,591
1,100,000,000
1,566,881,700
2,677,305,946
n/a
465,000,000
185,099,275
730,195,000
10,881,598,073
287,581,367
36,700,000,000
548,262,959
280,000,000
170,194,000
478,021,876
483,000,000
535,000,000
1,400,000,000
7,090,000,000
318,715,000
2,070,254,000
1,500,000,000
1,546,000,000
8,850,000,000
2010 assets
10.6%
0.9
1. 5
– 1. 6
1.0
11.8
– 1. 4
8.7
14. 4
3. 6
–0.5
– 17. 1
–0.6
4. 2
10. 9
8.1
2.8
– 2.8
6. 2
8.3
7. 1
– 1. 5
–0.4
– 2.8
0.5
8.0
—
4.8
0.1
6. 5
4. 9
6. 4
8.2
13. 9
– 2. 1
887.9
3.0
2. 6
2. 9
2. 7
3. 5
4. 6
4. 9
5. 1
6. 7
4. 2
Percent change
in assets
from 2009
Note: Many figures for 2010 are estimated or unaudited. Unless other wise noted, figures cover fiscal years ending December 31. n/a Not available.
* Includes program-related investments. † Changes projected from 2010. Accepts unsolicited proposals.
†† Because of the economic downturn, organization changed grant-making priorities or offered emergency help to hard-hit charities or cities and towns.
— Indicates that a percentage cannot be calculated.
Political Shifts Influence Grant Making
Arnold, a 36-year old energy investor, and his wife, Laura. The
$670-million fund has been supporting efforts to overhaul public schools and is ramping up
work to improve the criminal-justice and pension systems.
Shifts in the political climate
also caused some changes at
foundations. The Public Welfare
Foundation, in Washington,
ended a longstanding grant-making program dedicated to
influencing health-care policy
because of the health-overhaul
law passed last year. That money will now go to its work in
criminal and juvenile justice.
Unlike health care, the issue
Continued from Page 7
of climate change has failed to
win support from Congress, but
it continues to win new donors.
Last year, the Barr Foundation
decided to focus all of its environmental giving on the problem.
Some funds are also trying to
be creative about putting Americans back to work. The Lumina
Foundation for Education, in Indianapolis, started a grant program with an initial $8-million
last year designed to help adults
who attended college but didn’t
finish—some 37 million people,
the foundation estimates—
attain their degrees.
As state and federal govern-
ment agencies make more cuts
in the coming year, foundations
are likely to face even more
grant seekers knocking on their
doors.
Noelle Barton and Peter
Bolton contributed to this article.
COURTESY OF THE DOUGY CEN TER
The economic recovery has led funds like the Meyer
Memorial Trust to end emergency-grants programs.
