Stable Giving
Foundations must make charitable grants – in good times and bad – of at least 5% of their assets, averaged over five years. Importantly, foundations frequently increase their donations in challenging times to compensate for the financial difficulties charities face. 2020 has been no exception – over 7,500 US foundations have explicitly launched Covid relief initiatives, and we believe this number will increase significantly in 2021.
Predictable giving
Foundations exist to donate to charity, unlike individuals and corporations, who have a variety of shifting interests and priorities that are dependent on a robust economy. Foundations often publish giving guidelines relating to geographic and philanthropic areas of giving interest – furthermore, analysis of giving through time indicates that most foundations maintain a strong, consistent focus in the areas they support.
Low risk / low cost
Unlike high expenditure / high risk fundraising efforts like golf tournaments and galas, foundation fundraising requires very little upfront investment, typically $5,000-$15,000, and with the average single foundation grant amount of $59,300 (2019, 2020), it provides the most cost efficient method of fundraising – all that is required to start is a funding database which identifies good funding prospects, a good letter, and a few stamps and envelopes.
Low effort
Relative to almost any other form of fundraising, approaching foundations requires fewer resources to succeed. This is particularly true of the upfront work in sorting through the over 135,000 US foundations to identify a list of “best prospects” for your project, a task that a few years ago could consume months of effort.
Foundation funding information and management systems like FoundationSearch are now able to intelligently and accurately identify a short list of the best prospects for a variety of project funding needs, including Covid funding – and recommend a safe asking amount based on the funders prior giving history. The balance of the upfront effort simply involves writing and sending a letter of inquiry to your foundation prospects to determine their interest in helping you.
Growth
The most recent CCS Fundraising survey (August, 2020) indicates that foundation funding was the fastest growing giving source since 2015-19, growing at a rate of 5.7%, compared to 3.2% for giving by individual donors. Foundations gave $72 billion, in the form of an estimated 1,164,000 grants – that is more than one grant for every two charities in the US so your odds of getting funded – if you apply of course – are good.
