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. 

Why We Went Digital With Our Donor Stories

by PJ Watters As a community foundation, we are always talking about our role connecting "people who care" with "causes that matter." When we award grants from our funds, people don't usually know who's behind the fund name-and they should! It's time we tell our fund founders' stories. So we…

Ten Years into the Journey Toward Inclusiveness

by Adrienne Mansanares Ten years ago, The Denver Foundation embarked upon an uncharted journey to help nonprofits and funders connect with communities of color. With the creation of the Expanding Nonprofit Inclusiveness Initiative (ENII) in 2001, and its evolution to the Inclusiveness Project…

Can a Generous Community Meet a Huge Need?

by Hillary Nather-Detisch This past Tuesday we celebrated National Philanthropy Day, a day to celebrate the good that's happened, the change that's been created, the effects of philanthropy, and the generosity of others. At a luncheon today in Omaha, our local chapter of the Association of…

Creating Community Impact in The Last Frontier

by Candace Winkler Alaska Community Foundation (ACF) is a part of a much larger movement that is nearing the end of its first century of existence. As we compare ourselves with older community foundations across the nation, we realize the magnitude of the work we are doing — and the work that's…

Giving the Gift of Giving

by Brenda Chumley On behalf of the entire team at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Community Foundation Week! We're pleased to celebrate by sharing how we work with other community foundations across the country. In 2004, the Greater Kansas City…

Supporting Partnership

by Astrid "Oz" Spies In mid-2008, The Denver Foundation started to receive calls from food pantries, reporting that demand was up 20, 30, even 40 percent. Donations? Those were flat or down. At the same time, Colorado ranked low in comparison to other states when it came to distributing food…

Is Loving Where You Live the Key to a Successful Community?

by Erin Rowley There are a lot of things to love about Centre County, Pa. Beautiful natural features. Ample opportunities to socialize. An open and accepting attitude among residents. And according to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, qualities like that create a sense of attachment…

Celebrating the Importance of Professional Advisors

by Emily Jones Rushing So how did you find out about community foundations? For many generous people, the answer is: their lawyer, their accountant, their financial adviser, the key professional they trust to help them make a difference with their charitable dollars. Seven years ago, the…

A Productive-and Painless-Trip to the Nation's Capitol

by Linda Reed My trip last week to Washington, D.C., was easy and productive thanks to the Council's great government relations team. I wanted to meet with members and staff of Montana's congressional delegation to brief them on our transfer of wealth study and some new information we have about…

The Weekly Fanfare of Philanthropy

by Carl Little Last week was a quiet one at the Maine Community Foundation — not! Between debriefing about the annual Inspiring Philanthropy evening and preparing for the upcoming Feed a Family campaign, we barely had time to celebrate Community Foundation Week. The Maine Community Foundation…

Wading Through a Sea of Bad News

by Carol Thompson Cole In this day of 24-7 media, information flows nonstop and infinite reams of data can be crunched in seconds. Yet I am sometimes shocked by how very little we know, even about what’s going on in our own neighborhoods. Information is power, and while research and data might…

Conflicts of Interest at Foundations: Avoiding the Bad and Managing the Good

BoardSource | A partnership of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and the Council of Michigan Foundations Even the most comprehensive conflict-of-interest policy cannot cover every conceivable situation where there might be the appearance of a conflict. Accordingly, conflict-of-…

Managing Expectations, Coping With Realities

Fundamentals
by Lee Draper Every year, scores of individuals are recruited to join the program staff of foundations. As program officers or directors, they allocate billions of dollars to the nonprofit organizations doing work in our communities and abroad. Despite being charged with such responsibility,…

Community Foundation Excellence (CFE)

Initially developed in conjunction with Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, these courses help community foundation staff, board members and volunteers master the unique aspects of the community foundation field. You'll learn about effective practices, get helpful tools and information and…

Charitable Giving

Issue The charitable deduction is a tax provision which allows individuals to reduce their taxable income by the total amount of charitable contributions they made in that tax year (with some limitations, depending of the type of gift—i.e. cash, stocks, property—or the type of organization…

Seeking Shared Success: Business Model Innovation Through Mergers, Affiliations, and Alliances

Publication
Learn how alliances, affiliations, and mergers represent a path to enhanced sustainability and greater impact for community foundations. Hear perspectives from community foundation leaders, access tools for considering a new structure, and read case studies from six community foundations.
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