Foundation giving reached record highs in ’08, but drop feared in ’09

Giving by community foundations reached a record level last year, but is expected to decline in 2009, according to a report released yesterday by the Foundation Center, a New York-based non-profit service research organization focused on philanthropy. The center found that the nation’s 717 community foundations raised their giving last year by 6.7% to reach a record of $4.6 billion. But in a survey of 159 of the larger community foundations, 74% said they expect to reduce their giving in 2009. Education and human services were the top priorities last year for the larger foundations surveyed. The amount given by the community foundations in 2008 also surpassed that given by corporate foundations for the first time on record, the organization reported. In 2008, 2,500 grant-making corporate foundations gave an estimated $4.4 billion, the center found. A community foundation is a fund established to support charities and other non-profit organizations in a specific community or geographic area.