According to the 2018 Foundation Source Annual Report, foundations that are clients of Foundation Source saw strong earnings, grantmaking and contributions in 2017. The asset balances at the firm's foundation clients nearly doubled on a year-over-year basis, from 6.6 percent in 2016 to 13.2 percent, due in part to robust stock market returns, while total contributions increased 8.3 percent, with donors giving 83 cents to their foundations for every 89 cents disbursed as grants or charitable expenses.
Foundations with assets of less than $1 million saw the greatest growth in grantmaking, up some 11.4 percent, followed by midsize foundations with assets of between $1 million and $10 million, up 7.1 percent, and large foundations with assets of between $10 million and $50 million, up 6 percent. And while the average grant size across all foundations in the sample increased from $12,000 to $13,000, most of the increase was attributable to a slight increase in the size of grants awarded by the largest foundations. In addition, the average distribution ratio — the amount of charitable contributions relative to the value of a foundation's assets — rose slightly for all foundations, to 8.2 percent from 7.8 percent in 2016, as well as for midsize and large foundations, while falling slightly for small foundations, from 14.2 percent to 13.4 percent.