Foundation Grants to Arts and Culture 2022: A One-Year Snapshot

Steven Lawrence, Independent Consultant

In 2022, giving by all active U.S. private and community foundations grew less than 3%.[1] Among the largest U.S. independent, corporate, community, and grantmaking operating foundations included in Candid’s 2022 Foundation 1000 dataset, overall giving rose 6% among a matched subset of funders. By comparison, arts and culture funding among this matched subset decreased 4%, suggesting that the field represented a lower priority for these foundations.

Highlights

Among funders included in Candid’s Foundation 1000 dataset, giving for arts and culture totaled less than 7% of overall grant dollars. This was the lowest share ever reported for the Foundation 1000.

These key findings represent Grantmakers in the Arts’ (GIA) twenty-third 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. It 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 2022 arts and culture giving uses the latest Foundation 1000 dataset,[2] while the analysis of changes in foundation giving for the arts between 2021 and 2022 uses a matched subset of foundations that are consistent between the Foundation 1000 for each of those
two years.[3]

Arts funding declined in 2022 while overall foundation giving increased.

Arts grant dollars dipped 4% among a matched subset of Foundation 1000 funders, compared to 6% overall growth reported by these matched funders. Similarly, the number of arts and culture grants reported by matched funders decreased by 2%, compared to a 1% increase in the overall number of grants reported.

Large grants accounted for just over three-fifths of arts grant dollars.

Arts grants of $500,000 or more accounted for almost 62% of overall grant dollars for arts and culture in 2022, compared to 64% in 2021 and 62% in 2020.

Top arts funders accounted for a larger share of overall giving.

The top twenty-five funders by giving amount provided 38% of the total arts dollars in Candid’s 2022 Foundation 1000 dataset, down from the 44% share reported for 2021. Nonetheless, the share of arts giving accounted for by the top funders has remained relatively consistent for the past decade.

Foundation funding for the arts decreased modestly as a share of total dollars in 2022.

Among funders included in Candid’s Foundation 1000 dataset, giving for arts and culture totaled $3.4 billion, or less than 7% of overall grant dollars. This was the lowest share ever reported for the Foundation 1000.

The size of the median arts grant remained unchanged.

The median arts and culture grant amount held steady at $35,000 between 2021 and 2022. Nonetheless, this median amount continued to total markedly less than the $50,000 median overall grant amount.[4]

Relative to overall foundation giving, a modestly larger share of arts grant dollars provided general support.

In 2022, general operating support accounted for 30% of arts and culture grant dollars. This share surpassed the 27% share of overall foundation giving that funded general operating support in that year.

Please note: It is important to keep in mind that the foundation 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 only looks 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 2022 Foundation 1000 dataset awarded 20,867 arts and culture grants totaling $3.4 billion, or less than 7% of total grant dollars (Figure 1). This share of grant dollars represented the lowest share reported for the Foundation 1000. A decade earlier, support for arts and culture represented 9% of overall foundation grant dollars and in 2010 accounted for 13%.

Among a matched subset of 906 funders, grant dollars for the arts decreased 4% between 2021 and 2022, compared to a 6% rise in grant dollars overall. Of the top-ranked subject areas by grant dollars, only community and economic development and international relations showed larger declines in grant dollars (Figure 2).

*Figure 3. Arts grant dollars by foundation type, 2022*

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 2022, 28 arts and culture grants provided at least $10 million. 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.

Community foundations represent an important source of support for arts and culture, [providing] 20% of Foundation 1000 grant dollars.

In 2022, community foundations provided one-fifth (20%) of Foundation 1000 grant dollars, consistent with 2021 (Figure 3). They also accounted for one-third (36%) of the number of foundation grants for arts and culture. 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

*Figure 4. Arts and culture, giving to subfields, 2022*

Funding for the performing arts accounted for over one-quarter (27%) of all foundation arts and culture dollars in 2022 (Figure 4), surpassing the share reported for museums (20%). From the late 1990s to the early 2000s and several times in recent years (2010, 2013, and 2014), museums surpassed the performing 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 2021 and 2022, grant dollars for the performing arts decreased 20% among a matched subset of funders, while the number of grants declined 5%. A total of 7,552 grants were awarded for the performing arts by foundations in the set—more than double 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 2022).

Performing arts centers and theaters benefited from one of the highest shares of giving for the performing arts. Among the largest performing arts grants in the latest sample was a $30 million unrestricted award by the David Geffen Foundation to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Also included within the performing arts is support for performing arts education, which totaled $65.4 million in 2022. This included a $9.1 million unrestricted grant from the Arison Arts Foundation to the New World Symphony, which prepares music school graduates for leadership roles in orchestras and ensembles. (See “Giving to multidisciplinary arts” below for a figure on foundation grant dollars supporting other types of arts education.)

Giving to museums.

In 2022, museums benefited from 2,888 grants totaling $680.7 million awarded by funders included in the Foundation 1000 dataset. Two-fifths (40%) of this funding supported art museums. Among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars allocated to museums rose 22% between 2021 and 2022, while the number of grants was basically unchanged. Among the largest museum grants in 2022 was a $10 million capital grant from the Hawks Foundation to the Joslyn Art Museum.

Giving to multidisciplinary arts.

The share of arts giving for multidisciplinary arts (including multidisciplinary centers, arts councils, artist’s services, arts administration, arts exchange, and arts education) dropped to 12% in 2022, roughly half of the 22% share reported for 2021. Among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars for multidisciplinary arts decreased 27%, while the number of grants rose 4%. Within multidisciplinary arts, arts services—which includes general services to arts organizations, such as facilities or touring assistance—accounted for the largest share of 2022 funding, with grant dollars totaling $219.1 million (49%). Arts education (excluding performing arts education) followed with one-third of multidisciplinary support ($148.2 million).

Giving to historical activities.

Grant dollars for historical activities (includes support for commemorations, genealogy, historic preservation, and war memorials) rose 21% among a matched subset of funders between 2021 and 2022, while the number of grants increased 2%. Overall, historical activities benefited from 1,357 grants totaling $297.1 million in 2022.

Giving to humanities.

The humanities (includes support for art history, history, classical and foreign languages, linguistics, literature, and philosophy) benefited from 1,072 grants totaling $255.9 million in 2022 from funders included in the Foundation 1000 dataset. Funding for this field accounted for 8% of arts grant dollars in 2022, down from 11% in 2021. Nonetheless, among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars awarded for the humanities increased 29% in 2022, while the number of grants rose 8%.

Giving to visual arts.

The visual arts and architecture benefited from $245 million in grant dollars from Foundation 1000 funders in 2022. Among a matched subset of funders, grant dollars for the visual arts increased 10% between 2021 and 2022 and the number of grants climbed 11%.

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 17% of arts grant dollars in the 2022 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 and culture grant dollars in 2022 (40% 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 2022 (30% of all arts funding) and exceed the share of overall funding in the Foundation 1000 providing general support (27%). Similarly, by share of number of grants, close to two-fifths (39%) of arts grants provided unrestricted support, compared to 36% of overall giving.

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 (14%) than for grants overall (7%). 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.

Grants by Grant Size

Median grant size.

The median or “typical” grant amount for arts and culture in 2022 was $35,000, unchanged from 2021. This amount fell well below the median amount for all foundation grants ($50,000).[5]

Small and midsized grants.

Well over half (56%) of all arts grants in the 2022 sample were for amounts between $10,000 and $49,999 (table 2), down slightly from the 2021 share (57%). The share of midsized arts grants ($50,000 to $499,999) remained unchanged at 37%.

Large grants.

The share of larger grants ($500,000 and over) increased to nearly 7% of the total number of grants in 2022, up modestly from roughly 6% in 2021. Although, their share of total grant dollars dipped slightly from 64% to nearly 62%. Overall, funders in the Foundation 1000 sample made 76 grants of $5 million and over in 2022, compared to 79 grants in 2021.

Among the largest arts and culture grants included in the 2022 Foundation 1000 set were the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s $15 million grant to the Smithsonian Institution to support the planning and development of the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum; and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s $15 million grant to the National Park Foundation to continue and expand support for humanities postdoctoral fellowships in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The twenty-five largest arts funders.

The top twenty-five arts and culture funders by giving amount provided 38% of the total arts dollars in Candid’s 2022 sample (Table 3). 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.

*TABLE 3. Twenty-five largest arts and culture funders, 2022*

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, almost two-fifths (39 funders) gave less than $5 million in total arts grant dollars in 2022.

*TABLE 4. Top thirty-five foundations by share of arts giving out of overall giving, 2022*

Giving for International Cultural Exchange.

Grant dollars supporting international culture exchange declined 40% between 2021 and 2022 among a matched subset of funders, following a prior 40% decline between 2020 and 2021. The number of grants they awarded also decreased by 22%. In 2022, foundations awarded 59 grants related to international cultural exchange, down from 74 grants in 2021. These awards totaled $7.3 million. The largest grant was a $2.5 million unrestricted award from the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation to the Asia Society.

NOTES

[1] See Giving USA 2024: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2023.

[2] Candid’s 2022 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. In addition, the Foundation 1000 includes giving between foundations included in the data set, which likely results in some amount of double-counting of grant dollars awarded.

[3] 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 906 funders for which the Foundation 1000 includes 2021 and 2022 data.

[4] The median—meaning that half of the grants are above and half are below the amount—is generally acknowledged to be a more representative measure of the typical grant than the mean or “average,” because the median is not influenced by extreme high and low amounts.

[5] 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.