Connecticut grantmakers awarded more than $902 million in grants in 2008, an increase of 22 percent over 2006, a new study by the Hartford-based Connecticut Council for Philanthropy finds.

Based on 2008 IRS returns from 2,378 grantmaking foundations in the state, the 2010 edition of the biennial Connecticut Grantmaking Highlights (4 pages, PDF) found that the number of grantmakers in the state increased some 23 percent from 2006 to 2008 — in part because of a requirement in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 that resulted in a number of bank charitable trusts becoming private foundations.

Despite the increase, however, Connecticut grantmakers held total assets of $8.8 billion at the end of 2008, a drop of 1 percent from 2006. The report also found that 60 percent of the grant dollars awarded in 2008 were awarded by private independent foundations, with 26 percent awarded by corporate foundations and giving programs, and 14 percent awarded by community or public foundations; that giving by corporate foundations and giving programs totaled more than $230 million, a 27 percent increase over 2006; and that 1,015 foundations awarded less than $25,000 each, while 137 foundations distributed more than $1 million each in grants. Foundations in the latter category accounted for 75 percent of the grants paid and 61 percent of the assets held by grantmakers in the state.