The Foundation Giving Trends series
“a must-read for everyone in the charity sector”
— ANDREW O’BRIEN, HEAD OF POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, CHARITY FINANCE GROUP
The Foundation Giving Trends series
An annual series of reports on the Top 300 foundation grant-makers (by value of their giving), Foundation Giving Trends (FGT) provides a single, authoritative and reliable annual measure of the extra funding that private philanthropy contributes to public good through foundations, building transparency and an up-to-date evidence platform for practitioners, policymakers and researchers.
Includes: Key facts and figures on giving, income and assets of the top UK independent charitable foundations including the Top 300 foundations, the Top 150 family foundations and the Top 50 corporate foundations.
The Researchery has been involved with the research for FGT since 2015 and Dr Cat Walker is the lead researcher on the project.
Individual FGT reports can be found below.
FGT 2022
Foundation Giving Trends 2022
Three years on from the murder of George Floyd, Foundation Giving Trends 2022 includes a deep dive on foundations’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic with a particular spotlight on how foundations tackled the disproportionate impact on communities experiencing inequity, and especially racial inequity. The latest edition also covers the usual trends in grant-making, income and assets of the Top 300 UK-registered charitable foundations.
Commenting on the report, ACF chief executive Carol Mack OBE said:
“This year’s research shows how foundations stepped up during the Covid-19 pandemic. They increased their spend on grant-making - making over £430m in covid-related grants to charities from 2019-21. Simultaneously foundations responded by adapting their grant-making practices; collaborating with other funders, pooling funds and flexing their grant-making, all while keeping their own costs stable.”
FGT 2021
Foundation Giving Trends 2021
The 2021 report found that, at the beginning of the global Covid-19 pandemic, foundation grant-making continued to grow, rising by 7.8% (excluding the Wellcome Trust).
“This year’s report highlights the various ways in which foundations responded to the early phases of pandemic. The foundations studied for this analysis responded quickly to the crisis, committing significant amounts to emergency funding, and changing some practices almost overnight. Not only did foundations ‘show up’ but in many cases they led the way, forging a path to get money to the sector quickly and working collaboratively with other funders.”
— DR CAT WALKER
Earlier reports in the series can be found on the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) website (external link below).
The foundation world in focus
There are some 7,500 - 10,000 registered trusts and foundations in the UK (depending on your definitions).
There are a small number of large grantmakers which give out public money - e.g., The National Lottery Community Fund (formerly the Big Lottery) is the single largest grant maker in the UK giving out around £580 million in 2021-22; while the various Arts Councils in England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland distribute over £500 million of Grants-in-Aid from central government money. There are also a large number of "private" grantmakers which may be set up and run by companies, families or individuals.
Cat's research in this area includes 9 years working on Charities Aid Foundation's Charity Trends publication tracking the UK's top grantmakers, and 8 years working on the successor to this: Foundation Giving Trends, as well as assorted other projects.