Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support for programs benefiting Hispanics and Latinos has held steady at approximately 1 percent of overall foundation funding, even as the Hispanic population in the country has grown significantly, a new report from the Foundation Center finds.

According to Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and for Latin America, total grant funding targeting Latinos in the United States between 2007 and 2009 averaged about $206 million a year, while funding for Latin America averaged roughly $350 million annually. Human services (27 percent) and health (26 percent) captured the largest share of grant dollars awarded for Latinos in the U.S., while Mexico and Brazil did the same for grants targeting Latin America.

The report, the product of a collaboration between the Foundation Center and Hispanics in Philanthropy, found that the top ten funders awarding grants for Latinos in the U.S. from 2007 to 2009 accounted for nearly 40 percent of grant dollars, and that recipients in the West received the largest share (42 percent) of foundation funds intended to benefit Hispanics, with 80 percent of that funding going to California-based organizations.

Among U.S. metropolitan areas, the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area received the largest share of grant dollars (17 percent) and number of grants (13 percent). Over the three year period, this metropolitan area received more than 1,000 grants totaling $107.3 million.

The report also found that roughly half the funding for Latin America went directly to organizations in Latin American nations, while the other half was awarded through U.S.-based international programs, and that the largest share of grant dollars was awarded in the area of the environment (33 percent), followed by international affairs (20 percent).

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