Two new reports are providing fresh insights on the scope and scale of philanthropy worldwide as well as the barriers faced by philanthropic organizations and how they vary by country.

Research from the Hauser Institute for Civil Society at Harvard University provides new understanding around the size, scope and practice of institutional philanthropy. The Global Philanthropy Report: Perspectives on the Global Foundation Sector reveals that global philanthropy is growing fast but remains fragmented.

“We knew philanthropy was growing in many countries, but we didn’t realize that trend would be so clear and so global,” says report author Paula Johnson.

Key findings:

• More than 260,000 foundations exist in 39 countries though they are highly concentrated, with 60 percent in Europe and 35 percent in North America. Most are relatively new, with 72 percent established in the last 25 years.

• More than 90 percent of the foundations are independent, the predominant model in the United States (96 percent) and Europe (87 percent).

• Foundation assets exceed $1.5 trillion, though individual assets are modest with more than 90 percent reporting less than $10 million in assets and nearly half of those reporting less than $1 million.

• Education is a top priority globally, with 35 percent of foundations focusing on education through grants. Other priorities include human services/social welfare at 21 percent, health at 20 percent and arts/culture at 18 percent.

• People living in poverty are the top beneficiary, with 16 percent of the foundations making grants to serve that population, followed by people with disabilities (14 percent) and the elderly (13 percent).

• While not the norm globally, grantmaking is a key practice in several countries, particularly the United States where 100 percent of foundations surveyed make grants to nonprofits. In countries with lower reported societal trust, grantmaking is less common.

Johnson acknowledges the report is a sketch of the global institutional philanthropy scene and hopes to publish the report biennially with additional countries and data to build a more complete picture over time.

Released by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, the Global Philanthropy Index took a different perspective in its study.

Researchers evaluated 79 countries on five factors measuring the ease with which philanthropies operate and policies that impact giving. Spanning January 2014 through March 2018, the report includes incentives and barriers when donating.

Key findings:

• The political environment is a key challenge facing the philanthropic sector, even more than the regulatory environment.

• Regions with favorable environments are linked with higher-per-capita GDP. The United States and Canada, Northern and Western Europe, and Oceania had the highest overall index scores.

• Migrations and natural disasters had a major influence on the philanthropic landscape, attracting donations at record levels.

• Approximately 40 percent of the countries have a restrictive philanthropic environment, and almost a quarter of the countries introduced restrictive regulatory changes during the survey period.

• Regulatory conditions moderately improved globally since 2015, with the largest improvements in Central Asia and South Caucasus regarding the ease of operating, and the Middle East and Northern Africa for tax incentives and cross-border flows.

• Cross-border flows of donations are more restricted, with regulations creating challenges to send and receive donations.

Want more?

Read the Global Philanthropy Report.

Read the Global Philanthropy Environment Index.