Arkansas Gives More With Less

Some Southern states fare much better than Arkansas when it comes to philanthropy, says Pat Lile, executive director of Arkansas Community Foundation.

Georgia and North Carolina, for example, have “huge” assets per capita in terms of charitable foundations, Lile says. That’s due in part to those state’s industries, Coca-Cola in Georgia and tobacco in North Carolina.

In terms of charitable-foundation assets per capita, Arkansas ranks in the bottom third of all states, Lile says. Within that group, Arkansas ranks near the top, considerably ahead of Mississippi and Louisiana, but Lile says that ranking is skewed by the asset-rich Walton Foundation, which had $151 million in 1996, the latest year for which numbers were available.

Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma — three Arkansas neighbors — all rank among the top third of states in charitable assets, Lile says.

Other states sharing the bottom tier with Arkansas include Washington, Vermont, South Carolina, Montana, Iowa, Idaho, Maine, North Dakota and Alaska.

Poor Southern states and very rural states with small populations are those with the least charitable assets, Lile says.

“Philanthropy is considered to be an urban enterprise,” she says.

The Arkansas Funding Directory, published last year by Nonprofit Resources Inc. of Little Rock, listed only six foundations in Arkansas with assets of more than $50 million. Based largely on public filings, the directory put the Walton Family Foundation at $151 million; the Charles Fruehauf Foundation at $91 million; the Rockefeller Foundation at $90 million; the Harvey and Bernice Jones Charitable Trust at $68 million; and the Winthrop Rockefeller Trust at $58 million.

The sixth foundation with assets of more than $50 million was the University of Arkansas Foundation. That foundation actually topped the list with $184 million, according to the directory, but Lile differentiates between it and the others because it supports one institution. The university foundation is classified as a “public charity.” The other foundations listed are grant-making foundations that help support multiple causes.

Many of the foundations may have significatly higher assets now, thanks to strong returns on their investments. It’s difficult to obtain current information because of a time lag in IRS filings.

The Foundation Center in New York lists 26 Arkansas foundations in its directory. Foundations eligible for listing must have at least $2 million in assets or give at least $200,000 annually in grants.

That compares to New York, which has 1,493 foundations in the center’s listings, and North Dakota, which has just five foundations.

Assets of Arkansas foundations totaled $636 million, according to the center.

Arkansas fares better in terms of giving, however.

The Council on Foundations in Washington, D.C., says gifts from Arkansas foundations totaled $121 million in 1997, the latest year for which figures were available. That was enough to rank the state 25th in the nation.

Per-capita giving by foundations was $47.98 in Arkansas, which puts the state in the No. 20 spot in that category.