Assets, gifts, and grants
After FY 2016 saw the field experience a slight uptick in asset growth, the community foundation field saw accelerated growth in FY 2017, both in the aggregate and among individual community foundations. The field’s total reported assets increased by 19%, at least partially due to wider market conditions producing strong investment returns for community foundations across the field.
Total assets1
1Silicon Valley Community Foundation made a change to their accounting method as it pertains to digital assets, decreasing their FY17 asset total. This chart applies that change.
Median change in assets: 12.6%
Total reported gifts & grants
Total reported assets, gifts, & grants over time
Focusing on asset, gift, and grant totals for the Top 100 largest community foundations allows for a consistent sample, which remains reflective of overall field growth trends. As noted above, significant asset growth is observed, while gift and grant totals saw relatively more modest increases over 2016 levels. Still, gift and grant totals for this group both reach new highs.
| Year | Assets | Gifts | Grants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | $38,917,931,737 | $4,465,253,001 | $3,904,732,475 |
| 2009 | $40,409,834,343 | $3,594,008,133 | $3,587,914,735 |
| 2010 | $43,734,774,105 | $4,041,853,599 | $3,665,284,784 |
| 2011 | $44,905,303,288 | $4,464,150,289 | $3,602,819,432 |
| 2012 | $49,633,058,279 | $5,995,084,149 | $3,913,778,333 |
| 2013 | $57,987,755,039 | $6,832,015,126 | $4,374,485,233 |
| 2014 | $64,005,157,664 | $7,765,424,152 | $5,297,769,257 |
| 2015 | $65,957,488,326 | $7,167,504,052 | $5,964,523,728 |
| 2016 | $69,580,574,413 | $8,168,288,097 | $6,860,661,534 |
| 2017 | $78,301,317,660 | $8,942,435,711 | $7,941,746,498 |
Changes in gift and grant activity
While the median community foundation saw a 1.3% decrease in gifts received from FY 2015-FY 2016, the median in 2017 was a 7.1% increase. Changes in gift totals tend to vary greatly from year to year and among community foundations; nearly 40% of all respondents saw gift totals change by more than half in either direction. Grant totals tend to stay steadier than gift totals, with close to half of all respondents seeing grantmaking totals change less than 20%.
Median change in gifts: 7%
- Dramatic decrease
- Moderate decrease
- Neutral
- Moderate increase
- Dramatic increase
Median change in grants: 10%
- Dramatic decrease
- Moderate decrease
- Neutral
- Moderate increase
- Dramatic increase
| Type of activity | Dramatic decrease | Moderate decrease | Neutral | Moderate increase | Dramatic increase | Median change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gifts | 13% | 24% | 15% | 24% | 24% | 7% |
| Grants | 4% | 17% | 29% | 34% | 16% | 10% |
Median gifts and grants per capita
The concentration of high net worth donors in large urban centers is reflected in per capita gift and grant totals at larger community foundations.