Publications

The 2024 Board Compensation Tables provide foundation board and staff with the tools they need to benchmark their board compensation policies and practices against peers in the field. This report contains data collected through the Council’s 2024 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey and presented…

The 2024 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report contains the most comprehensive and up-to-date data available on U.S. philanthropic sector salaries, benefits, and demographic details, with information presented by grantmaker type, foundation type, asset size, and geographic location. The 2024…

Coming Together, Not Apart: How Philanthropy Supports Connection in a Time of Dangerous Division is the first of three Council on Foundations publications exploring philanthropy's involvement in developing the heartset, mindset, and skillset to lead collaboratively across differences. It dives deep…

The CCSF Study is the field’s most comprehensive and authoritative study on investment and governance policies and practices. The 2023 CCSF studies 291 private and community foundations that represent $126 billion in assets. Topics covered include: Returns and Investment Objectives Asset…

United States foundations are an essential element of America’s social sector, supporting causes from public libraries to groundbreaking research, to new approaches to building a more equitable world. But despite their reach, foundations have an identity problem. From small towns to Washington, D.C…

Since 1997, the Council on Foundations and Candid have analyzed trends in global grantmaking by U.S. foundations. In our State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2022 Edition report, which analyzed grants made between 2016 and 2019, we found that 39% of global grants made by U.S. foundations…

The 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Report is updated with the most recent sector data. Information is presented by grantmaker type, foundation type, asset size, and geographic location. Additionally, 2023 report contents include: Salary data on 10,733 full-time staff from 957…

The CCSF Study is the field’s most comprehensive and authoritative study on investment and governance policies and practices. The 2022 CCSF studies 277 private and community foundations that represent $206.8 billion in assets. Topics covered include: Returns and Investment Objectives Asset…

With the proliferation of bitcoin and other forms of digital (or "crypto") currencies around the world, a growing number of charitable donations are being given via these transaction vehicles. To what extent have community foundations entered this space? Which cryptocurrencies are the most popular…

Community foundations have several attributes that, taken together, distinguish them from many of their philanthropic brethren, including a local orientation, relationships with many living donors, and a public charity tax status. This affects everything from their approach to solving problems to…

To help community foundations address twin challenges of fewer resources and greater need, CF Insights conducted research by interviewing and collecting survey responses from a cross section of 73 community foundations during the month of October 2008.

Are you a fiduciary that oversees an endowment at a Private or Community Foundation? The Council on Foundations is proud to partner again with the Commonfund Institute on this year's Council on Foundations-Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations (CCSF),…

Drawing from data provided by 1,003 institutional responses, the 2022 GSB Key Findings highlights important human resource trends that are shaping the philanthropic sector.  This year’s key findings feature the voices of human resources professionals and leaders from across the sector as they…

The 2022 Board Compensation Tables provide foundation board and staff with the tools they need to benchmark their board compensation policies and practices against peers in the field. This report contains data collected through the Council’s 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey and presented…

The 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefit report is updated with the most recent sector data. Information is presented by grantmaker type, foundation type, asset size, and geographic location. Additionally, 2022 report contents include: Salary data on 10,304 full-time staff from 1,003…