Since many foundations direct their support primarily within their geographic area, in this report, the counties of the Commonwealth are clustered into five regions: Central, Northeastern, Northwestern, Southeastern, and Southwestern Pennsylvania.
  • By the end of 1999, there were 3,005 grantmaking foundations in Pennsylvania.
  • From 1992 to 1999 the number of foundations increased:

    76% in SE PA       53% in NW PA      PA 35% in NE PA       35% in SW PA       21% in Central PA
From 1992 to 1999 Pennsylvania's overall mix of foundation giving did not closely mirror that of the U.S. - Pennsylvania had:
  • higher % given by independent foundations
    		•  87% in PA vs. 77% in U.S.
  • lower % given by corporate foundations
    		•  9% in PA vs. 12% in U.S.
  • lower % given by community foundations
    		•  3% in PA vs. 8% in U.S.
  Northwest
Northwestern Pennsylvania had a substantially higher proportion of community foundation grantmaking.

36% compared to:
  • 8% in U.S.
  • 11% in Central PA
  • 4% in SW PA
  • 4% in NE PA
  • 1% in SE PA
As community foundation funding tends to grow over time, this is a healthy indicator. 		  Southwest
Southwestern Pennsylvania had a diverse mix of foundation grantmaking, with substantial corporate foundation involvement. Proportionately, corporate foundation giving was almost four times as strong in SW PA as SE PA (15% vs. 4%). In terms of dollars, SW PA corporate foundation giving totaled $66.3 million vs. $26.9 million in SE PA.

Central
Central Pennsylvania had a diverse mix of funding dollars granted from various types of foundations:
  • independent 72%
  • corporate 15%
  • community 11%

   Northeast
Northeastern Pennsylvania had a substantially high proportion of corporate foundation grantmaking.
22% compared to:
  • 12% in U.S.
  • 15% in Central PA
  • 15% in SW PA
  • 4% in SE PA and
  • 3% in NW PA
NE PA had a lower proportion of community foundation funding (4% vs. 8% in U.S.). However, the community foundation infrastructure to capitalize upon is in place, as NE PA has a higher proportion of community foundations in existence (3% vs. 1% in U.S.).

Southeast
Southeastern Pennsylvania is reliant upon independent foundation grantmaking sources (94% vs. 77% in U.S.). SE PA needs to increase its corporate (4% vs. 12% in the U.S.) and community (1% vs. 8% in the U.S.) foundation grantmaking in order to diversify its funding mix.