Large foundations made a record £3.3bn of grants in 2016/17 - a growth of 11 per cent on the previous year - according to a report from the Association of Charitable Foundations.
Giving Trends 2018 tracks the activity of the top 300 grantmakers, which between them contribute around two-fifths of the total grant spending by charitable foundations.
According to the report, there was a 10.7 per cent growth in foundations’ investment income and a 10.3 per cent growth in voluntary income.
Foundations saw their assets grow by 5 per cent to reach a high of £65bn, however this growth dropped to 2.4 per cent when the Wellcome Trust - by far the largest charitable foundation - was excluded from the data.
Meanwhile, total spending by the top 300 foundations was £4.5bn, with 8 per cent devoted to their own direct policy, research or operating programmes.
The research is led by professor Cathy Pharoah, of the Centre for Giving and Philanthropy at the Cass Business School, and Dr Catherine Walker of The Researchery. It is published by the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF), and supported by the Pears Foundation.
Carol Mack, chief executive of the ACF, said: “This year’s research once again demonstrates the strength and resilience of the foundation model, achieving record levels of giving despite a challenging social and economic environment.”
Top 20 grantmakers
The report ranks the foundations by the value of their grantmaking as well as providing commentary on the current state of the sector.
For the most part the top 10 remained unchanged from the previous year.
Arcadia has risen to seventh in the rankings from 17th last year, while United Talmudical Associates Ltd rose from 34th position to 16th and the Basil Larsen 1999 Charitable Trust rose from 62nd to 20th.
The top 20 foundations by grantmaking are:
- Wellcome Trust - £844.7m
- Children’s Investment Fund Foundation - £170.1m
- Comic Relief - £99.5m
- Leverhulme Trust - £75.1m
- Garfield Weston Foundation - £62.3m
- BBC Children in Need Appeal - £61.3m
- Arcadia - £54.6m
- Esmée Fairbairn Foundation - £40.5m
- Gatsby Charitable Foundation - £41.5m
- Monument Trust - £35.3m
- Wolfson Foundation - £30.0m
- Grace Trust - £30.0m
- Henry Smith Charity - £28.1m
- Gilmore Benevolent Fund Ltd - £26.0m
- Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat International - £23.6m
- United Talmudical Associates Ltd - £22.9m
- Lloyd's Register Foundation - £22.8m
- Barnabas Aid International - £22.5m
- The Sackler Trust – £21.1m
- Basil Larsen 1999 Charitable Trust - £21.1m
|
Related articles
