# Foundation income down but grant-making rises by 10%

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/05/05/foundation-income-grant-making-rises-10/
- Published: 2014-05-05T10:40:14+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

A report published last week by the Association of Charitable Foundations details
the giving trends of the top 300 UK grant-making foundations.

The research shows that grant-making is up in real-terms by 9.8%, despite a fall
in income across the sample. Speaking at the launch, Cathy Pharaoh of the Centre
for Giving and Philanthropy at the Cass Business School called the report “a new
departure in presenting foundation information”.

The data for the report was provided by [Charity Financials](http://www.charityfinancials.com)_._

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Conclusions drawn include:

 * foundation giving to charitable causes grew by £271 million, or 10%, whilst income
   fell by the same amount.
 * foundations make up £2.4 billion or 14% of the £17.5 billion given annually to
   charities from private sources.

 

[⌊Top 300 foundations represent 90% of the value of all private foundation giving:
Association of Charitable Foundations⌉⌊Top 300 foundations represent 90% of the 
value of all private foundation giving: Association of Charitable Foundations⌉[

Top 300 foundations represent 90% of the value of all private foundation giving:
Association of Charitable Foundations

 

Care is taken to avoid bias in the report despite a recognition that the sector 
is inherently skewed. For example the largest grant maker in the study, the Wellcome
Trust, gave £511 million last year, while 87% of the 300 give less than £10 million
annually.

A concluding section comparing the US with the UK presents a positive picture of
foundations becoming of increasing importance in the UK.

The report, published by the [Association of Charitable Foundations](http://www.acf.org.uk),
is first in the Foundation Giving Trends series and builds on the success of its
companion Family Foundations Giving Trends.

 * **[ACF launches project to develop best practice for foundations](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/07/21/acf-launches-project-develop-best-practice-foundations/)**(
   21 July 2017)
 * **[Top 300 foundations gave record £2.9 billion in 2015/16](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/27/top-300-foundations-gave-record-2-9-billion-in-201516/)**(
   27 September 2017)
 * **[Fourth year of growth sees foundation giving reach £3.3 billion](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/10/02/fourth-year-growth-sees-foundation-giving-reach-3-3bn/)**(
   2 October 2018)