By Ian Wilhelm

A new report suggests that grant makers will cut back their giving this year more than previously expected.

In January the Foundation Center estimated that foundations would reduce their grant making 8 to 13 percent, but a new survey from the New York research group indicates that “the decline will be on the steeper end of that range.”

While the stock market has trended upward in recent months, foundation investment gains will not make up for the financial loss in 2008, when philanthropic assets fell an estimated 22 percent, says the center.

In 2010 the giving picture doesn’t look any rosier. Based on a September survey of 583 grant makers, 50 percent said they plan to keep their giving steady at 2009’s reduced levels, 26 percent expect to decrease it, and 17 percent will increase it. Seven percent said they did not know how their grant-making budgets will fare.

The center notes that institutions that award more than $10-million a year are more likely to trim their giving.

As the economy has hampered foundation giving, it also has taken a toll on employees. Twenty percent of 407 respondents said they have reduced the size of their staffs through layoffs, eliminating unfilled positions, or buyouts. Community funds were more than twice as likely as other grant makers to have made such cost-cutting moves.

Despite the gloomy situation for philanthropy, most foundations — 67 percent of 568 surveyed — said they expect that charities that survive the economic downturn will be stronger than they were before.

The report, “Foundations’ Year-End Outlook for Giving and the Sector,” is available on the center’s Web site.