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. 

Five Trends in Technology

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Washington Snapshot - December 8, 2016

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Quick Review of FATF's Evaluation of the U.S.

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Taking a Step Back: Understanding North Carolina’s Changing Landscape

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  Hosted by the Council and the Knight Foundation, hear the perspective of community foundation leaders on both sides of the Giving Day effort. Giving Days come with huge upside potential to increase visibility and credibility. Giving Days help democratize philanthropy with far-reaching…

Don't Skimp on Overhead in 2017: Expand your Admin Support

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Washington Snapshot - December 1, 2016

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Minor Successors, or What to Do When Your New Fund Adviser Isn’t Old Enough to Vote

At the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, we’ve been talking about how to deal with minor successors being named on a fund. We started looking into it after reading a discussion about it on the Philanthropy Exchange. It’s a tricky situation: If your fund adviser is underage, they may not…

World AIDS Day

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Center for Community Foundation Excellence (CCFE) Fundamentals Course - Sacramento, CA

  A well-trained staff and an informed board are critical to the success of community foundations in our fast-changing world. This two-day course helps new and experienced foundation stakeholders build the essential skills they need to balance governance and management. Created and led…

Acts of Kindness Amplified This #GivingTuesday

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Implementation of Department of Labor Overtime Rule Halted

Following up on the webinar we presented in August on the overtime rule that was issued by the Department of Labor in May, we wanted to inform the field that a federal judge in Texas has issued a nationwide injunction to halt the implementation of this rule. The injunction is effective immediately—…

Council on Foundations Now Accepting Nominations for 2017 Council Awards

The Council on Foundations today announced that the nomination period for its 2017 Awards Program is open now through January 18, 2017. Every day, Council members stand at the forefront of innovation, exploring creative ways to advance the common good and finding solutions for complex issues. The…
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