Corporate Foundation Giving Remained Flat in 2008, Foundation Center Report Shows; Declines Expected in 2009

New York, NY, May 11, 2009 — Charitable giving by the nation's nearly 2,500 corporate foundations remained virtually unchanged in 2008, according to the Foundation Center's Key Facts on Corporate Foundations, an annual report on corporate foundation giving released today. Giving totaled an estimated $4.4 billion last year.

Corporate foundation giving will most certainly decline in 2009, with the banking and finance industries accounting for about one-quarter of corporate foundation support in recent years and corporate earnings down across the board. Slightly more than half (51 percent) of corporate foundations responding to the Center's annual forecasting survey said they expect to reduce their giving this year, with three-quarters of these funders anticipating decreases of more than 10 percent.

"Corporate foundations will not be alone in having to reduce giving this year, but the cuts may well be deeper than for other types of grantmakers," said Steven Lawrence, senior director of research at the Foundation Center.

Other key findings from the report include:

* Inflation-adjusted corporate foundation giving has remained nearly flat in recent years.
* After inflation, corporate foundations reported slower cumulative growth in giving than other types of foundations since 1990.
* Education continues to be the number one focus of corporate foundation giving, followed by public affairs/society benefit and human services.
* The Northeast and Midwest continue to account for the largest shares of corporate foundation giving.

Findings in Key Facts on Corporate Foundations come from the Foundation Center's tracking of fiscal and programmatic information on more than 80,000 foundations, corporations, and public charities; annual surveys of leading grantmakers; and analyses of the giving patterns of more than 1,200 of the nation's largest foundations. The report can be downloaded at no charge at our web site.

About the Foundation Center
Established in 1956 and today supported by close to 600 foundations, the Foundation Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 400 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions in every U.S. state and beyond. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230.