Community Foundation Week Sample Press Release
Replace all bracketed and highlighted text with your foundation’s information before distributing.
[FOUNDATION LETTERHEAD]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[INSERT DATE]
Contact: [INSERT NAME]
[INSERT PHONE]
[INSERT EMAIL]
[INSERT YOUR ORGANIZATION’S NAME] Joins Nationwide Recognition of the Local Impact of Community Foundations
[DATELINE] — [INSERT ORGANIZATION NAME] will join community foundations across the country from November 12 to 18, 2026, for Community Foundation Week, an annual recognition of the role these organizations play in helping neighbors, donors, and local institutions work together on the challenges their communities face.
For more than a century, community foundations have brought local resources and knowledge together to support the places people call home. Community Foundation Week is a chance to be specific about what that work looks like.
[INSERT FOUNDATION NAME] will [INSERT DETAILS ON SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR THE WEEK: SITE VISITS, POLICY FORUMS, RECOGNITION CEREMONY, NEWS CONFERENCES, ETC.]
“Community foundations are built by the people who live here, and we answer to them,” said [FOUNDATION PRESIDENT/CEO]. "This week we want our neighbors to see what that support actually does in [CITY/REGION] — the programs that stayed open this year, the organizations that could keep their staff and serve more people, the families who found help close to home like, [INSERT ONE SPECIFIC EXAMPLE IN PLAIN LANGUAGE.]”
A community foundation is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, autonomous, non-partisan philanthropic institution focused on a defined local geographic area. Community foundations build permanent funds established by many separate donors, support broad-based charitable interests that benefit residents of that area, and serve as leaders on important community issues. The Council on Foundations’ Community Foundation Locator lists more than 960 community foundations nationwide.
[PROVIDE AN EXAMPLE OF YOUR ORGANIZATION’S WORK THIS YEAR. INCLUDE PARTNERS, DESCRIBE HOW DECISIONS WERE MADE, AND NAME THE IMPACT OF THE FUNDING. INCLUDE A GRANTEE OR RESIDENT PERSPECTIVE WHERE YOU CAN, AND AVOID SECTOR JARGON.]
Community foundations serve communities large and small, urban and rural, and the work is rarely theirs alone. Change in a community usually comes from charitable organizations, residents, local government, and funders each playing a part. [OPTIONAL: REFERENCE A SHARED EFFORT YOUR FOUNDATION IS PART OF AND THE ROLE EACH PARTNER PLAYS.]
Community Foundation Week was created in 1989 by former President George H.W. Bush to recognize the work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative approach to working with the public, private, and charitable sectors to address community problems.
###
[INSERT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION BOILERPLATE]
Optional — Council on Foundations boilerplate
The Council on Foundations is a nonprofit membership association that serves as a guide for philanthropies as they advance the greater good. Building on our 75-year history, the Council supports over 1,000 member organizations in the United States and around the world to build trust in philanthropy, expand pathways to giving, engage broader perspectives, and co-create solutions that will lead to a better future for all.
For more on Community Foundation Week, visit cof.org/cfweek.
