Grantmaking Foundations

The 12,300 grantmaking foundations in the US award grants from trust funds to support charitable activities. Top areas of focus for giving include healthcare, education, human services, public affairs, arts and culture, environmental causes and animals, and international affairs.

Market Risk Challenges Investments

Fluctuations in interest rates, corporate earnings, and global financial markets can create a challenging investment environment for foundations.

Facing Public Scrutiny

Grantmaking foundations, particularly public foundations, face scrutiny from the public to provide transparency.

Sep 2, 2026 - New Foundation Rating System Developed

• A new type of rating hopes to put a system in place to provide a simple and visible way to assess grant markers’ practices, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The ratings, called the Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark, sort foundations by factors like how much general operating support and flexible funding they provide and how many of their grants in the previous several years have been long-term grants of three or more years, rather than one-off, short-term project grants. While there have been many tips for effective grant making and “top five” practices floated over the years, this may be the first effort to provide a ranking on anything other than a foundation’s asset size or grant-making budgets, according to the Chronicle. Advocates for the grant-making approach the ranking embraces say that long-term, flexible grants help build trust between grant makers and grantees. It can also help build a durable network of nonprofits working for social change that can withstand political volatility, economic declines, and the ups and downs of fundraising.
• Leading foundations are demonstrating how AI can make the grant due diligence process more streamlined, standardized, efficient, and equitable, according to Alliance magazine. AI allows foundations to produce higher-quality insights from the financial and grant data that they are already collecting. It can also streamline and standardize the grant review process. Key areas for caution include monitoring for embedded biases, ensuring data privacy, and ensuring that AI applications cite the data and information used to produce insights.
• Housing and shelter organizations are the nonprofits most likely to depend on government grants for 50% or more of their revenue, according to Candid, an information service specializing in reporting on US nonprofit companies. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will have its budget cut by 44% for 2026, and many housing and shelter organizations have told Candid that they will feel the impact in the form of grand reductions. Candid has found that 23% of housing nonprofits could run out of funding within three months without government support.
• Grantmaking foundation industry employment increased slightly and average wages for nonsupervisory employees decreased slightly during the first seven months of 2026, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Grantmaking foundation industry sales are forecast to grow at a 5.55% compounded annual rate from 2026 to 2030, faster than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. Foundations generate revenue from endowment returns and donations.

Industry size & Structure

The average grantmaking foundation operates out of a single location, employs about 10 workers, and generates $10.6 million annually.

• According to the US government, the grantmaking foundation industry consists of about 12,300 firms that employ 118,200 workers and generates $130.4 billion in revenue.
• The 238 US foundations surveyed in 2019 received over $9.4 billion in gifts, distributed nearly $8.4 billion to organizations and individuals, and managed over $94.1 billion in assets, according to Candid and the Columbus Survey.
• The top 50 organizations account for about 51% of industry revenue.
• Large organizations include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF).
• Most foundations have less than $50 million in assets.