Most foundations make grants to big arts organizations that serve a well-to-do, predominantly white audience, the Associated Press reports, citing a new study by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

The study, to be released Monday at an arts grant maker’s conference in San Francisco, says organizations with annual budgets exceeding $5-million, representing about 2 percent of cultural organizations, collected 55 percent of arts grants in 2009.

The biggest recipients tend to be museums, operas, and symphonies, which have seen attendance decline while demand is rising for community-based cultural programs, according to the watchdog group, which has challenged foundations to step up support for all types of groups that serve the needy.

Arts philanthropy has not kept pace with demographic changes and “is using its tax-exempt status primarily to benefit wealthier, more privileged institutions and populations,” said Holly Sidford, the study’s author.