In the past year, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has pared its grantmaking budget to $230 million from $242 million, Crain's Chicago Business reports.

Robert Gallucci, who became president of the foundation in July 2009, said the cuts targeted discretionary funds, not those for current grantees. Recent grants included $500,000 to the Chicago News Cooperative and $1.5 million to the makers of the "Point of View" documentaries for PBS. MacArthur's endowment is currently about $5 billion, down from $7 billion in 2007.

"We did not impact current grantees. But I'm not saying we never will, either," Gallucci said. "We're reviewing all our areas of work, trying to do better."