Over the past few years, in the economic development world, there has been some whispering.
Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank caught wind of a growing suspicion that donations and grants from foundations were being funneled into just the largest, most well-off cities in the country. Small and mid-sized cities, as well as those deemed economically distressed, were getting ignored by these large, national money-givers.
The Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia and Atlanta decided to go beyond the anecdotes and find out how true this was. In their report, Following the Money,researchers looked at 169,000 grants of at least $10,000, distributed between 2008 and 2013, from the 1,000 largest foundations in the country.
Keystone Crossroads is a statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.
