REGION Report: Grants from area top $20M

The Wean and Youngstown foundations rank high on statewide lists.
COLUMBUS -- Youngstown-Warren area corporate and foundation grants surpassed $20 million in 2001, according to a recently released report by the Ohio Grantmakers Forum.
The Youngstown-Warren area, which includes Trumbull, Mahoning and Mercer counties, has 143 foundations with combined assets of $343 million, which gave $20.7 million in 2001 -- the only year for which regional figures are available.
This is the first year OGF has published regional figures, so comparisons of assets and grants to previous years aren't available at the regional level, said Janet Kasler, director of knowledge management at OGF.
What's included
The 143 foundations included 128 independent, seven corporate, two community and six operating foundations. The area's largest foundation is the Warren-based Raymond John Wean Foundation -- the 10th-largest independent foundation in Ohio -- which was inaugurated in 1949 by the founder of Wean Engineering Co., for whom it is named. The company designed and made equipment for the production and finishing of flat-rolled steel.
The area's second-largest foundation, The Youngstown Foundation, which was established in 1918, is Ohio's eighth-largest community foundation. It is the area's oldest major foundation.
Although the Mahoning Valley is home to some major players on the statewide grant-making scene, the local area's share of total statewide philanthropic activity is small. The Youngstown-Warren area accounts for 5 percent of the state's foundations, 3 percent of their collective assets and 2 percent of their collective grants.
In contrast, the Cleveland-Lorain area, which has by far the largest share of philanthropic activity in the state, boasts 1,270 foundations with some $5.7 billion in assets and almost $448 million in grants in 2001. That area has a 43-percent share of the state's foundations and their collective assets and accounts for 42 percent of the grants statewide.
Ohio's rank in the nation
On a statewide basis, Ohio ranked ninth in the country in total giving by grant-makers, which exceeded $1 billion for the first time, according to the report, titled "Ohio: The State of Philanthropy 2003." The nearly $1.08 billion given -- an all-time high -- was 18.7 percent above the 2000 figure, beating the national average increase of 10.7 percent.
The rise in grants, which helped nonprofit organizations meet increased community needs brought on by the economic downturn and decreased public funding, occurred despite a 2.6-percent decline in the foundations' collective assets from the previous year. The collective assets of Ohio's 2,987 grant-makers totaled almost $13.2 billion in 2001, according to the forum's report, which was funded by National City Bank.
According to the report, which is based on research conducted among OGF's 200 members, the largest shares of grants went to education, which received 27 percent, human services, 23 percent, and health causes, 20 percent.
Spurred by the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Ohio individuals donated a record $4.3 billion to charities in 2001, up less than 1 percent from the previous year, according to IRS data. However, Ohio ranked 44th among the 50 states in donations itemized on federal tax returns. With an average charitable contribution of $2,696, Ohio ranked lower than all its neighbors except Kentucky.
Pennsylvania ranked 37th in 2001 at a little more than $5 billion in donations, with an averaged itemized contribution of $3,018.