Community Foundations

Community foundations are grantmaking public charities that are dedicated to improving the lives of people in a defined local geographic area. They bring together the financial resources of individuals, families, and businesses to support effective nonprofits in their communities. Community foundations vary widely in asset size, ranging from less than $100,000 to more than $1.7 billion.

Community foundations play a key role in identifying and solving community problems. In 2017, they gave an estimated $5.48 billion to a variety of nonprofit activities in fields that included the arts and education, health and human services, the environment, and disaster relief. The Community Foundations National Standards Board confirms operational excellence in six key areas—mission, structure, and governance; resource development; stewardship and accountability; grantmaking and community leadership; donor relations; and communications. Foundations that comply with these standards can display the official National Standards Seal. Currently, over 500 community foundations have earned the seal.

More than 900 community foundations operate in urban and rural areas in every state in the United States; currently, approximately 350 are members of the Council on Foundations. The community foundation model also has taken hold around the world. Community foundations have participated in the growth of international giving by U.S. foundations in recent years, with international giving by community foundations more than tripling, from $103 million in 2011 to $315 million in 2015, and community foundations' share of overall international giving by U.S. foundations more than doubling, from 1.4 percent in 2011 to 3.4 percent in 2015.

You can use our Community Foundation Locator to view a list of community foundations in the United States.

Below is everything on our site for community foundations. We highly recommend that you use the navigation or our search feature to find what you're looking for on our site. Please also visit cof.org/community-foundations for curated community foundation content. 

Donor-Advised Fund Letter of Support

Last week, The Washington Post published an article grossly mischaracterizing the value and importance of DAFs as a philanthropic tool. The Council immediately responded by penning a letter to the editor (see below) outlining how DAFs encourage charitable giving and enable community foundations to…

Council Member Update: Finance and Endowment Focus

Members View the Recording This member update will focus principally on important issues related to foundation financial management and endowment performance. We will look in depth at the Council's recent research on endowments and preview our upcoming Endowments and Finance Summit in New York…

Keep Calm and Carry On?

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on June 24, 2016 with the title "Brexit Vote Will Force Philanthropy to Tackle Many Tough Issues." The vote for Britain to exit the European Union took philanthropy and the rest of the world by surprise. But it raises tough…

Month of Pride

I started this blog post earlier in the month to recognize June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ)* Pride Month, but the tragedy in Orlando rightly caused the Council and my blog post to change course. As June comes to a close, it seems fitting to celebrate the LGBTQ…

Washington Snapshot - June 24, 2016

News from the Hill Speaker Ryan Releases Tax Blueprint As our readers know, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) organized five task forces to draft substantive blueprints outlining policy options for a number of issue areas—including tax reform. Chaired by Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Kevin…

Diving into the Data: Staffing & Salaries

The second chapter of the Council’s full 2015 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Report provides extensive data on staff and salaries. In it, we offer tables on everything from the size of responding foundations to the diversity and salaries of their full-time staff and the tenure and turnover of…

Call Summary: 2016 Chinese Foreign NGO Law

On May 10, 2016, the Council on Foundations (the Council) and International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) convened over 100 organizations to discuss new Chinese legislation that may restrict the work of Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based foundations and other nonprofits in China. Members can access…

Washington Update LIVE!: Philanthropy's Voice in the Policy Process

  Download the Presentation Slides August is here, which means your Members of Congress have ventured outside of the beltway for an extended stay in their districts—otherwise known as your communities. This is a great opportunity for you to connect with your elected officials, build and…

Washington Snapshot - June 17, 2016

In response to the horrific attacks in Orlando, Council President and CEO Vikki Spruill and Board Chair Sherry Magill penned an open letter reaffirming the Council’s commitment to advancing diversity, equality, and inclusion in and beyond the philanthropic field, and to continue serving as a…

What You Need to Know from the Giving USA 2016 Report

Giving USA 2016 was released this week and found that overall U.S. charitable giving from all sources—including individuals, bequests, foundations and corporations—reached an estimated $373.25 billion in 2015. This was an all-time high for the second consecutive year. This increase held for both…

2016 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Survey

The 2016 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Survey is now open. This survey and the resultant reports are valuable benchmarking tools designed specifically to collect compensation and benefits data for positions at community, private (family and independent), and public foundations, and other staffed…

Council Message on Orlando

Editors Note. Since the publishing of this blog post, the Central Florida Foundation is no longer managing the distribution of donations to the OneOrlando Fund. The Foundation will now be administering the Better Together Fund. Read the full statement from the Foundation at www.cffound.org.…

Learning Together: Finding Shared Goals in Global Conversation

Last week, I spent a day at the Colombian Embassy with 35 foundations from Colombia. The group was comprised of corporate and family foundations, members of the Association for Family and Corporate Foundation in Colombia (AFE), who co-hosted the event with the Council on Foundations. The goal of…

Webinar Recording: February 2016 Legal Lunch Series with Legal Affairs

  Download the Presentation Slides We know it can be difficult navigating the X’s and O’s of exempt organization compliance. Our play callers, Suzanne Friday and Bryan Del Rosario, are here to help. In this Legal Lunch Series, Suzanne and Bryan draw up plays and pass along recommendations…

Washington Snapshot - June 10, 2016

News from the Hill Senate Philanthropy Caucus Co-Chairs Encourage Colleagues to Join This week, the Senate Philanthropy Caucus Co-Chairs, Richard Burr (R-NC) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent a Dear Colleague Letter encouraging their fellow Senators to join the caucus. They called for colleagues to “…

Welcome Our 2016 Summer Interns

Toure’ Burgess, Lauren Hamilton, Lauren Wells, Mara Goldman, Sarah Stellwag, and McQuillin Murphy   The Council of Foundations’ summer interns are here! From now through August, our interns — all currently enrolled college students from across the country — will be working in the Council’s…
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