Alaska.

• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Corporate 100--Philanthropy - Reprint

Grantmaking by community foundations more than doubled, up 111% to over $6 million. However, overall giving to the state was down by $15 million. This decline is slightly skewed by reporting methods, which capture the total amount of multi-year gifts in the year of their award. Additionally, nine funders located outside of Alaska significantly decreased their giving to the state. Public benefit organizations received more than $40 million in grants in 2012. The largest grant in the category was also the largest overall grant to the state--$11.9 million to the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, a nonprofit utility, by The Denali Commission. In total, the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative received 28% ($15.8 million) of all funds to the public benefit category. Grants allocated to renewable and clean energy, energy assistance and energy education or advocacy efforts composed 20% (nearly $25 million) of all grantmaking to the state.

Every two years, Philanthropy Northwest collects, codes and analyzes data on foundation and corporate giving to nonprofits located in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Because Form 990 schedules and funder reporting cycles are often not in sync with the calendar year, we analyze data from two years prior to the report year; for example, this 2014 report includes grant data from 2012, while our 2012 report includes grant data from 2010, and so on.

Trends in Northwest Giving uses grant data from several sources: Philanthropy Northwest members, national foundations who give to the Northwest, IRS Form 990s, foundation websites and the Foundation Center. Our findings represent a sample of the more than 3,000 foundations in our region.

How do we collect and code the data?

* We actively reach out to nearly one thousand Northwest-based foundations and corporations, regardless of Philanthropy Northwest membership status.

* We partner with the Foundation Center to collect data from the top funders to our region, regardless of their location.

* We prioritize collecting data from the same foundations year over year so we can offer a robust analysis of trends over time.

* We code our data according to national standards set by National Center for Charitable Statistics. These standards are used by the IRS and are the basis for Foundation Center coding methods.

What's included in our dataset?

* Grants of $1,000 or more

* Community foundations: discretionary grants, unrestricted, donor advised funds...