Grant Distribution in Private Foundations: How Professionalization, Size, and Foundation Type Relate to Concentration and Persistence

ABSTRACT This study examines how private foundations distribute grants and which organizational characteristics are associated with these patterns. While much of the existing literature focuses on grantee traits, this research shifts the focus to foundations themselves, analyzing how their internal features relate to grant distribution strategies. It introduces two key indicators of grantee accessibility: concentration of funding across recipients and persistence in funding the same grantees over time. Using IRS Form 990‐PF e‐file data from 2012 to 2016 for 18,310 grantmaking foundations annually, the analysis employs hybrid models to distinguish within‐foundation change from between‐foundation differences in grant distribution. The findings reveal systematic variation in concentration and persistence across foundations and over time. Professionalization is associated with different distribution patterns depending on the dimension examined, indicating that professionalized foundations adopt focused, diversified, or mixed grantmaking strategies. Larger foundations distribute funding across a broader range of recipients with varying degrees of continuity. Corporate foundations exhibit lower concentration and persistence relative to independent foundations. This study introduces an empirical framework for analyzing how foundations allocate resources across nonprofit recipients, contributing to research on philanthropic behavior and offering new insights into the strategic dynamics and societal implications of grant distribution.