California, DC, NYC Come Out On Top With Latino Foundation Funding

The Foundation Center in conjunction with Hispanics in Philanthropy published a report recently titled, “Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and for Latin America.”  The report looked at giving mostly from 2007 to 2009, finding that funding has remained steady during the past decade at about 1% of total foundation funding. This figure comes out to about $206 million.

We had previously reported that this 1% figure was “woefully low” for a population that makes up 60% of the country.

The grants tended to be for health and human services.  The largest share of the funding went to organizations  based in California, specifically in Los Angeles with 17% of grant dollars and 13% of the number of grants.  Washington, D.C. followed, with New York  third and San Francisco fourth;  more than half of all the grant dollars went to these fourth cities.

During the same period, 2007 to 2009, about $1 billion was donated to Latin America, with environmental programs making up the largest share. Of these monies, Mexico and Brazil each received about 25%.

The report also noted that Latinos received the second-largest portion of grant monies for minority communities, after African-Americans. The top five foundations giving to Latino communities during the sample period were: the California Wellness Foundation, Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation, Paso Del Norte Health Foundation and Marguerite Casey Foundation.

In terms of areas of donations, 27% was geared towards human services, 26% towards health and 20% towards public affairs.  For more information or specific data, read the report here.