The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2026 Edition
For almost 30 years, the Council on Foundations and Candid have partnered on studies of globally focused giving by U.S. foundations. Our newest edition of The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations analyzes how U.S. foundations are engaging globally, through support of efforts that improve health, expand opportunity, protect human rights, and help communities respond to crises.
Our analysis covers 2020 – 2023 with partial data from 2024 and examines foundation grantmaking data in Candid’s “Foundation 1000” research set, which includes all grants of $10,000 or more awarded by 1,000 of the largest U.S. private, community, and corporate foundations.
For the first time, our report also presents data from 51 of the largest national charitable gift funds and donor-advised fund (DAF) sponsoring organizations that are not community foundations. Given the rapid growth of DAFs in the past decade, this serves as an important first step in better understanding their role in global grantmaking.
5 Key Findings
- Global Giving by U.S. Foundations Remained Consistent as a Share of Overall Giving
- Community Foundations Surpassed Corporate Foundations in Global Giving for the First Time
- Global Giving for the Environment More Than Doubled and Surpassed Health for First Time (excluding the Gates Foundation)
- Direct Global Giving in Support of Locally Led Development Increased, but Still Represented a Small Portion of Overall Global Support
- National DAF Sponsors Rivaled Foundations in Global Giving
Past International Grantmaking Reports
This report is the latest in a decades-long collaboration between Candid and the Council to regularly analyze trends in international grantmaking by U.S. foundations. You can access the 2022 Edition or see the collection of older reports since 1997 on IssueLab.
