Giving by U.S. foundations grew to a record $52 billion in 2012 and is projected to reach $54.7 billion for 2013, a report from Foundation Center finds.

According to the 2014 edition of Key Facts on U.S. Foundations (8 pages, PDF), the nation's 86,192 private and community foundations held $715 billion in total assets in 2012. The report projects that foundation giving in 2014 will continue to grow on an inflation-adjusted basis, with giving by independent and family foundations increasing at a higher rate than giving by other types of foundations.

According to the report, New York State led the nation in both the number of foundations (9,880) and overall foundation giving ($8.7 billion) in 2012. The report also found that a subset of the largest U.S. foundations awarded nearly 27 percent of their grant dollars in support of international activities; that California ranked first in the amount of grant dollars received ($2.4 billion); and that the World Health Organization was the top recipient of international grant dollars.

"Giving by the nation's foundations has surpassed previous record levels," said Steven Lawrence, the report's author and director of research at Foundation Center. "While some endowments are still recovering from the Great Recession, strong stock market performance has boosted the assets of many and will undoubtedly encourage more individuals to create foundations."