Cuts to the federal budget and additional spending reductions could cause an 11 percent decline in government grantmaking to nonprofits over the next five years, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported May 4. The figures are taken from a report "The Nonprofit Sector and the Federal Budget," by the Nonprofit Sector Research Fund of the Aspen Institute.

With a proposed $2.8-trillion budget for 2007, federal grants to charities, which should total $42.4 billion this year, would decline $14.3 billion by 2011. Spending for education, welfare and the arts would fall by $78.6 billion from $427.9 billion in the same time frame, the report predicted.

A reduction in direct charitable spending would hit hardest: education and research grants falling by 11 percent and community-development funding dropping by almost a quarter in the next five years.

The new budget trends would burden the private nonprofit sector while reducing federal aid to organizations that provide needed services, detractors claim. Others say that it is too soon to make predictions based on tentative budget outlines.

Download the full report, The Nonprofit Sector and the Federal Budget, for free online.