Update on the health of California’s grant making community

This in via the Philanthropy News Digest. The Foundation Center, in cooperation with the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at USC, has just released a new report on the health of California foundations. Its findings include:

• U.S. foundations awarded an estimated $4.4 billion to California-based recipients in 2005.
• Number of California foundations grew by almost half.
• California foundation assets surpassed $77 billion in 2004, but inflation-adjusted assets remained unchanged.
• Health remained the top priority among sampled California foundations, followed by education.
• Colleges and universities and human service agencies received largest, but lesser shares of support.
• Program support dominated California foundation funding, while operating support displaced capital support as second-ranked priority.
• Over half of California foundation grants target specific population groups; economically disadvantaged and children and youth benefit from largest shares of grant dollars.
• International giving by California foundations grew faster than overall giving.
• Giving by non-California foundations for California recipients grew by more than half since the late 1990s.