GRANTMAKING BY SUBJECT AREA

This section provides a detailed analysis of grantmaking trends and patterns in various subject areas for the Giving in Minnesota sample of the 100 largest grantmakers in the state by grants paid. The section also gives an overview of state and national grantmaking comparisons; an in-depth analysis of patterns and trends in each subject area by grantmaker type and by subcategories (such as Performing Arts or Museums in the Arts, Culture & Humanities subject area); and lists of the top five grantmakers and top five grant recipients for each subject area.

To analyze trends and patterns by subject area, the Council applied the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) coding system, which classifies the subject areas into 26 categories and 49 subcategories. The eight main subject areas are Arts, Culture & Humanities; Education; Environment/Animals; Health; Human Services; International Affairs; Public Affairs/Society Benefit; and Religion. Each of these subject areas have various subcategories. (For more information on these subcategories, see Appendix ix [PDF].)

It is important to note that the Council codes subject areas according to grant descriptions. When no description is available, a grant is coded according to the purpose of the recipient organization. For example, a medical research grant given to the University of Minnesota would be coded under Education rather than Health if its intended use for medical research is not discernible from the information provided.

Only grants of $2,000 and larger were coded and included in the research analysis, so total grants in the Giving in Minnesota sample do not represent all of the grants paid by these grantmakers.


OVERALL SUBJECT AREA TRENDS

In 2005, the Giving in Minnesota sample gave a total of $704 million in grants to the eight subject areas covered in the report. As in previous years, Human Services, Education and Public Affairs/Society Benefit ranked as the three subject areas receiving the largest shares of the state's grant dollars (see Figure M).



Although Education remained one of the top two recipients of grants, as it has in every edition of Giving in Minnesota, Education's share of all grant dollars decreased from 25 percent (and the largest share) in 2004 to 21 percent (the second-largest share) in 2005 (see Table 13 and Figure N). By contrast, Human Services' share of the state's grants has increased steadily in recent years, from 21 percent in 2003 to 22 percent (and the second-largest share) in 2004 to 25 percent (and the largest share) in 2005. Public Affairs/Society Benefit, with 18 percent of the share in 2005, continued to receive the third-largest share of grantmaking, with a slight increase in the size of its share from 2004.


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In 2005, Environment/Animals and International Affairs both saw increases in their shares of Minnesota grant dollars for the first time since 2001. The portion of grantmaking going to Environment/Animals increased from 3 percent in 2004 to 4 percent in 2005, and the portion going to International Affairs doubled from 1 percent to 2 percent. The share of grants going to Religion dropped to 3 percent, after three consecutive years at 5 percent. Health's share remained the same at 11 percent.


SUBJECT AREA GRANTMAKING BY
GRANTMAKER TYPE

Although Human Services, Education and Public Affairs/Society Benefit continued to rank as the three subject areas receiving the largest shares of Minnesota grant dollars in 2005, analysis revealed some key variations in funding for each subject area by grantmaker type. (See Table 14 and Figure O for a breakdown of subject area grantmaking by grantmaker type, and Appendices vii & viii for a complete analysis of grantmaking by subject area and grantmaker type.)


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Private foundations contributed the largest share of grant dollars for all subject areas except Religion. The greatest differences in subject area giving by grantmaker type were for Environment/Animals and International Affairs. Private foundations gave 73 percent of all grant dollars for Environment/Animals (compared to 20 percent for corporate grantmakers and 7 percent for community/public foundations), and 68 percent of all International Affairs grantmaking (compared to community/public foundations' 17-percent share and corporate grantmakers' 15-percent share).

Corporate grantmakers tied private foundations for the largest share of grant dollars (44 percent) for Arts, Culture & Humanities. Corporate foundations and giving programs also contributed nearly the same share of grant dollars for Education (44 percent) as did private foundations (45 percent), and contributed the lowest amount for Religion (8 percent).

Community/public foundations gave the largest share of grant dollars for Religion, representing just over half (51 percent) of all Religion grantmaking. In nearly all other subject areas, community/foundations contributed the lowest share of grant dollars of all three grantmaker types.


COMPARISON OF MINNESOTA AND NATIONAL GRANTMAKING BY SUBJECT AREA

Minnesota grantmaking in 2005 varied from national grantmaking in the shares of total grant dollars going to the eight subject areas and in the ranking of total giving for each subject area (see Table 15 and Figure P).




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In 2005, Human Services received the most grant dollars of all subject areas in Minnesota, with a 25-percent share, while Education ranked first at the national level at a 24-percent share. This marked only the second time since the Council began compiling this report that Education received a larger share of grantmaking dollars nationally than in Minnesota.

The subject areas receiving the second-highest share of grants, each with a 21-percent share, were Education at the state level and Health at the national level. Public Affairs/Society Benefit ranked third both in Minnesota (18 percent) and nationally (16 percent).

The greatest differences between Minnesota and the nation in terms of grantmaking to different subject areas were in Human Services and Health. Although Minnesota grantmakers devoted 25 percent of their grant dollars to Human Services, the national average for grantmakers across the country was 15 percent. Conversely, Health received 11 percent of grantmaking in Minnesota, compared to 21 percent nationally.

In Minnesota, two of the eight subject areas (Education and Human Services) experienced changes in their share of grant dollars that were greater than 1 percentage point between 2004 and 2005. Education's share of grants decreased to 21 percent in 2005 from 25 percent in 2004; Human Services increased to 25 percent in 2005 from 22 percent in 2004. At the national level, changes in shares of grants did not exceed 1 percentage point in any subject area.

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	Grantmaking by Subject Area
	> Arts, Culture and Humanities > Education > Environment / Animals > Health > Human Services > International Affairs > Public Affairs / Society Benefit > Religion
	Grantmaking by Geographic Area
	Grantmaking by Intended Beneficiary
	Grantmaking by Support Type
	Methodology
	Appendices