foundations

Emily Finchum-Mason, University of Washington The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Eighty-three percent of large U.S. foundations seek input from some of the nonprofits they fund – along with other people, organizations or communities directly affected by their funding. But foundations, which aim to serve the public interest through the money they give away, rarely give these stakeholders decision-making authority – by either letting them help set priorities or giving them a say about where grant money flows. That is what philanthropy scholars Kelly Husted, David Suarez and I found in a study that assessed the practices of the 500 largest U.S. foundations. Our findings suggest that foundations, which face mounting pressure to direct more grants...

Many U.S. foundations, which disbursed roughly US$76 billion in 2019, say they are giving more money away in the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the health, economic and other crises it’s creating. As geographers who study the connections between money and power, we’re tracking this trend. It’s hard, because foundations do not have to disclose many details about what they do or how they make decisions. Often, foundations share very little information with the public about which organizations they are supporting. To get more insight, we analyzed nine months of data regarding roughly $1.4 billion in grants that 152 foundations pledged for causes related to the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. and the economic pain it brought on. We obtained this data from Candid, a group...

Tag: foundations

Few Groups Supported By Foundations Are Given Decision-Making Power On Funding Priorities

Early Data Indicates Only A Handful Of US Foundations Quickly Pitched In As The COVID-19 Pandemic Got Underway