Foundation Grants to Arts and Culture, 2021
A One-Year Snapshot
Steven Lawrence, Independent Consultant
In 2021, giving by all active U.S. private and community foundations grew approximately 12%.[1] Among the largest U.S. independent, corporate, community, and grantmaking operating foundations included in Candid’s 2021 Foundation 1000 dataset, overall giving rose 5% among a matched subset of funders. Arts and culture funding among this matched subset increased an identical 5%, and the field continues to represent an important, albeit lesser priority for foundations.
Highlights
These key findings represent GIA’s twenty-second snapshot of foundation giving for arts and culture. The definition of arts and culture used for this snapshot is based on Candid’s Philanthropy Classification System and encompasses funding for the performing arts, museums, visual arts, multidisciplinary arts, humanities, historical activities, arts services, folk arts, public arts, and cultural awareness. The findings presented in this snapshot are based on an analysis of two closely related datasets. The analysis of the distribution of 2021 arts and culture giving uses the latest Foundation 1000 dataset,[2] while the analysis of changes in foundation giving for the arts between 2020 and 2021 uses a matched subset of foundations that are consistent between the Foundation 1000 for each of those two years.[3]
Foundation funding the arts held steady as a share of total dollars in 2021.
Among funders included in Candid’s Foundation 1000 dataset, giving for arts and culture totaled $3.5 billion, or 7% of overall grant dollars. This share was consistent with 2020, although notably less than the roughly 11% of foundation grant dollars that funded the arts as recently as a decade ago.
Arts funding increased at the same pace as overall giving in 2021.
Arts grant dollars rose 5% among a matched sub- set of Foundation 1000 funders, consistent with overall growth reported by these matched funders. At the same time, the number of arts and culture grants reported by matched funders decreased by 4%. However, this decline was consistent with a 4% reduction in the overall number of grants reported and may reflect a return to more typical levels of support following exceptional giving by foundations in response to needs arising during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The size of the median arts grant increased.
The median arts and culture grant amount increased from $30,000 in 2020 to $35,000 in 2021. Nonetheless, this median amount totaled markedly less than the nearly $49,000 median overall grant amount. [4]
Large grants accounted for more than three-fifths of arts grant dollars.
Arts grants of $500,000 or more captured 64% of overall grant dollars for arts and culture in 2021, up slightly from 62% in 2020.
Relative to overall foundation giving, a larger share of arts grant dollars provided general support.
In 2021, general operating support accounted for 32% of arts and culture grant dollars. This share surpassed the 26% share of overall foundation giving that funded general operating support in that year.
Top arts funders accounted for a larger share of overall giving.
The top twenty-five funders, by giving amount, provided 44% of the total arts dollars in Candid’s 2021 Foundation 1000 dataset, surpassing the 42% share reported for 2020. Nonetheless, the share of arts giving accounted for by the top funders has remained relatively consistent for the past decade.
It is important to keep in mind that the founda- tion grantmaking examined here presents only one source of arts financing. It does not examine arts support from earned income, governments, individual donors, or the business community. This analysis also looks only at foundation arts support for nonprofit organizations, and not for individual artists, commercial arts enterprises, or informal and unincorporated activities.
Specific Findings
Overall foundation grant dollars for the arts.
The foundations included in Candid’s 2021 Foundation 1000 dataset awarded 20,509 arts and culture grants totaling $3.5 billion, or 7% of total grant dollars (figure 1). This share of grant dollars has been consistent since 2019. However, roughly a decade earlier, support for arts and culture represented about 13%of overall foundation grant dollars.
Among a matched subset of 820 funders, grant dollars for the arts increased 5% between 2020 and 2021, consistent with the 5% rise in grant dollars overall. Of the top-ranked subject areas by grant dollars, community and economic development showed by far the fastest growth in grant dollars. In contrast, several areas that experienced rapid growth in funding in 2020 in response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — e.g., public safety and public affairs — experienced marked reductions in giving in the latest year (figure 2).
The impact of exceptionally large grants.
Every year and in all funding areas, a few very large grants can skew overall totals, creating distortions in long-term grantmaking trends. In 2021, 24 arts and culture grants provided at least $10 million, and instances where these grants had a notable impact on grantmaking patterns are identified throughout this analysis. Yet, despite the potential fluctuations caused by these exceptional grants, Candid data in all fields have always included them, providing consistency over time. (In addition, Candid provides statistics based on share of number of grants, which are not skewed by exceptionally large grants.)
Community foundations represent an important source of support for arts and culture.
In 2021, community foundations provided one-fifth (20%) of Foundation 1000 grant dollars (figure 3) and two-fifths (40%) of the number of foundation grants for arts and culture. Actual arts grant dollars from community foundations totaled $688.2 million. Community foundations ranked second only to independent and family foundations by shares of grant dollars and grants and far surpassed the shares provided by corporate and grantmaking operating foundations.
Grants by Arts Subfield
Funding for the performing arts accounted for almost one-third (32%) of all foundation arts and culture dollars in 2021 (figure 4), far surpassing the share reported for museums (14%). Moreover, for the first time in 2021, museums ranked third by share of grant dollars, following multidisciplinary arts (22%). By comparison, from the late 1990s to the early 2000s and several times in recent years (2010, 2013, and 2014), museums surpassed the per-forming arts by share of grant dollars. The shifts in share of funding for museums have generally been due to factors such as the entry onto the scene of new and large arts funders, extraordinarily large grants, the contribution of valuable art collections, and/or new capital projects at museums.
Giving to performing arts.
Between 2020 and 2021, grant dollars for the performing arts increased 14% among a matched subset of funders, while the number of grants declined 3%. A total of 7,765 grants were awarded for the performing arts by foundations in the set — three times the number awarded for museums. In general, the median performing arts grant tends to be smaller in size than the median museum grant ($30,000 versus $45,000 in 2021). The largest share of giving to the performing arts supported performing arts centers and theaters. The largest performing arts grant in the latest sample was a $90 million capital grant from the Bloomberg Family Foundation to the World Trade Center Performing Arts Center. Included within the performing arts is support for performing arts education, which totaled $178.1 million in 2021. This included a $50 million grant from the Crankstart Foundation to the Julliard School for the music advancement program. (See “Giving to multidisciplinary arts” below for a figure on foundation grant dollars supporting other types of arts education.)
Giving to multidisciplinary arts.
The share of arts giving for multidisciplinary arts climbed to 22% in 2021, up from 17% in 2020 and 12% in 2019. [5] Among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars for multidisciplinary arts increased by 18%, while the number of grants rose 6%.Within multidisciplinary arts, arts education(excluding performing arts education) accounted for the argest share of 2021 funding, with grant dollars totaling $342.4 million (44%). General services to arts organizations, including facilities or touring assistance, followed with roughly one-third of multidisciplinary support ($254.8 million).
Giving to museums.
In 2021, museums benefited from 2,572 grants totaling $476 million awarded by funders included in the Foundation 1000 dataset. Roughly one-third of this funding supported art museums. Among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars allocated to museums declined 25% between 2020 and 2021, while the number of grants decreased 16%. The largest museum grant in 2021 was a $12 million operating support award from the Broad Art Foundation to The Broad. By comparison, the largest 2020 museum grant totaled $50 million.
Giving to humanities.
The humanities benefited from 1,648 grants totaling $377.9 million in 2021 from funders included in the Foundation 1000 dataset. [6] Funding for this field accounted for 11% of arts grant dollars in 2021, down from 12% in 2020 and 13% in 2019. Among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars awarded for the humanities decreased 9% in 2021, while the number of grants dipped 1%.
Giving to historical activities.
Grant dollars for historical activities jumped 39% among a matched subset of funders between 2020 and 2021, although the number of grants decreased 4%. [7] Overall, historical activities benefited from 1,283 grants totaling $267.2 million in 2021.
Giving to visual arts.
The visual arts and architecture benefited from $226.8 million from Foundation 1000 funders in 2021. Among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars for the visual arts decreased 2% between 2020 and 2021 and the number of grants declined 3%.
Grants by Support Strategy
An important caveat to report with regard to the allocation of foundation dollars by specific support strategy is that for about 7% of arts grant dollars in the 2021 Candid sample, the support strategy could not be identified. This means that modest differences in percentages may not be reliable. (The grant records available to Candid may lack the information necessary to identify the support strategy, especially if the source of data is the 990-PF tax return, which tends to be less complete than other forms of grant reporting.)
Table 1 provides a breakdown of specific support strategies within the larger support categories and lists both the specific dollar value and number of grants made in each type. However, it is important to keep in mind that this table includes only grants of $10,000 or more awarded to organizations by a sample of 1,000 of the largest U.S. foundation by total giving.
The arts compared to other fields of foundation giving.
The three largest categories of support tracked by Candid are program support, general operating support, and capital support.
Program support accounted for the largest share of arts grant dollars in 2021 (46% of all arts funding). Special programs and projects typically receive one of the largest shares of arts and culture grant dollars and grants. The same is true in most of the major fields, such as health and education, where program support consistently accounts for one of the largest shares of funding.
General operating support accounted for the second largest share of arts grant dollars in 2021 (32% of all arts funding) and exceed the share of overall funding in the Foundation 1000 providing general support (26%). By share of number of grants, close to two-fifths (38%) of arts grants provided unrestricted support. Although, this share
was matched by giving overall.
Grants by Grant Size
Median grant size.
The median or “typical” grant amount for arts and culture in 2021 was $35,000, up from $30,000 in 2020. However, this amount fell well below the median amount for all foundation grants ($48,900). This is the seventh consecutive year that the median arts grant amount has exceeded $25,000. [8]
Small and midsized grants.
Close to three-fifths (57%) of all arts grants in the 2021 sample were for amounts between $10,000 and $49,999 (table 2), down slightly from the 2020 share (59%). By comparison, the share of midsized arts grants ($50,000 to $499,999) increased modestly, from 35% of arts grants in 2020 to 37% in 2021.
Large grants.
The share of larger grants ($500,000 and over) remained consistent at roughly 6% of the total number of grants in 2021. Although, their share of total grant dollars accounted for a slightly bigger 64%. Overall, funders in the Foundation 1000 sample made 79 grants of $5 million and over in 2020, up from 74 grants in 2020.
The single largest arts and culture grant included in the 2021 Foundation 1000 set was the Mellon Foundation’s $115 million award to the Tides Center to support Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY), a three-year, $125 million investment in the financial stability of New York State artists and the organizations that employ them. CRNY provides guaranteed income and employment opportunities for 2,700 artists whose primary residence is in New York State and seeks to “catalyze systemic change in the arts and cultural economy, recognize the value of artists’ contributions, and reshape society’s understanding of artists as workers who are vital to the health of…communities.” [9]
The twenty-five largest arts funders.
The top twenty-five arts and culture funders by giving amount provided 44% of the total arts dollars in Candid’s 2021 sample (table 3), exceeding the 42% share recorded in 2020. Overall, the share of giving accounted for by the top twenty-five arts funders has fluctuated between roughly 30% and 40% since the end of the 1990s.
Top foundations by share of arts giving out of overall giving.
Among funders included in the Foundation 1000 that committed high percentages of their grant dollars to arts and culture, many were smaller (table 4). Of the top one hundred foundations ranked by share of arts giving out of overall giving, over two out of five (42 funders) gave less than $5 million in total arts grant dollars in 2021.
Capital support accounted for the third largest share of arts grant dollars. Similar to general support, the share of grant dollars allocated for this type of support was also higher for arts and culture (15%) than for grants overall (6%). Grants for capital support are larger on average than awards for program and general operating support, and exceptionally large capital grants can have a pronounced effect on the distribution of funding by support strategy.
Giving for International Cultural Exchange
Grant dollars supporting international culture exchange were up 40% between 2020 and 2021 among a matched subset of funders. The number of grants they awarded increased by a more modest 5%. In 2021, foundations awarded 74 grants related to international cultural exchange totaling $13.4million. Among these awards was a $50,000 grant from the Bader Philanthropies to Jerusalem Culture Unlimited to pilot studio residencies for early-career East Jerusalem visual artists at the Paley Art Center.
NOTES
See Giving USA 2023: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2022.
See https://taxonomy.candid.org/.
Candid’s 2021 Foundation 1000 dataset includes all grants of $10,000 or more reported by 1,000 of the largest U.S. independent and family, corporate, community, and grantmaking operating foundations by total giving. For community foundations, the set includes only discretionary grants and donor-advised grants (when provided by the funder). The set excludes grants to individuals. It accounts for approximately two-fifths of giving by all active U.S.-based private and community foundations. Grant amounts may represent the full authorized amount of the grant or the amount paid in that year, depending on the information made available by each foundation.
Each year the set of funders included in the Foundation 1000 changes modestly, which could distort year-to-year fluctuations in funding targeting specific issue areas. To account for these potential distortions, the analysis examines changes in giving based on a subset of 820 funders for which the Foundation 1000 includes 2020 and 2021 data.
The median — meaning that half of the grants are above and half are below the amount — is generally acknowledged to be a more representa- tive measure of the typical grant than the mean or “average,” because the median is not influenced by extreme high and low amounts.
Includes support for multidisciplinary centers, arts councils, artist’s services, arts administration, arts exchange, and arts education.
Includes support for art history, history, classical and foreign languages, linguistics, literature, and philosophy.
Includes support for commemorations, genealogy, historic preservation, and war memorials.
Prior to 2015, the median amount had remained consistent at $25,000 since the early 1990s.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Lawrence is an independent consultant who partners with foundations and philanthropy-serving organizations to document critical trends in the field. Among many reports he has authored in collaboration with GIA are Arts Funding at Twenty-Five: What Data and Analysis Continue to Tell Funders About the Field and Recalculating the Formula for Success: Public Arts Funders and United Arts Funds Reshape Strategies for the Twenty-First Century.
