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. 

A Historic Step Forward for Equality

Social change transpires at a blistering pace, in both promising and discouraging trajectories.  After growing up in isolation in South Dakota and cutting my teeth decades ago as an LGBTQ human rights activist, I’m gob-smacked and elated by today’s Supreme Court decision. This decision is…

Can My Foundation Fund Legal Aid for Individuals?

Legal Compliance Guidance
Legal aid provides assistance to people who would otherwise not be able to afford legal representation or access to the court system. While it is an integral part of the American justice system, especially to the most vulnerable in our society, many legal aid programs are unsustainable or have seen…

Celebrating ADA: It’s Time to Add a Disability Lens to Our Philanthropy

This article originally appeared on the D5 coalition blog, on 18 June 2015. The original article can be found here. Darren Walker, bold leader of the Ford Foundation, just made a dramatic announcement. The Ford Foundation’s work, which is deep and rich with eight decades of positive practices…

Natalie Ross and Nick Deychakiwsky — Community philanthropy is growing

This article originally appeared on the WINGS blog, Philanthropy In Focus, on 18 June 2015. The original article can be found here. Community philanthropy is a field in expansion throughout the world – the number of community philanthropy organizations has more than doubled between 2000 and 2014.…

The Thread of Mental Health

The fabric of Foundations funding human services forms a rich mosaic with themes as diverse as housing, education, employment, social justice issues, physical and public health.  The thread that interconnects with all of these is the mental health of the individuals and communities who are…

HistPhil: A Serious Effort To Bring Our Past To Today

This week, Stan Katz, Benjamin Soskis and Maribel Morey released HistPhil, a new blog that focuses on both “the studying of history and the making of history”. The blog is a result of the co-founders insight that philanthropy as a whole has much to gain from studying its past. The founders hope…

Leading Together for Greater Impact

Building Successful Collaborations in Philanthropy This morning, Council President and CEO Vikki Spruill helped launch a new platform on the Huffington Post that highlights important developments and leading thinkers on social innovation. The blog features thoughts from leaders such as Clara Miller…

Challenges and Opportunities for Grantmaking in Mexico

Access the Summary, Resources, and Recording     This teleconference provided an overview for foundations on policy developments in Mexico that are impacting the flow of U.S. philanthropy into the country. On the call, expert speakers delved into the implications for philanthropy of a new…

Announcing Canopy: A New Model for Place-Based Investing

While the globalization of markets has dispersed investments around the world, we’ve hatched a plan to bring capital back to our communities in a transparent, coordinated, and collaborative way. I’m excited to announce Canopy, an innovative, member-owned, for-benefit company designed to advance…

Career Pathways: The First Three Years (A Summary Evaluation Report)

Publication
The Career Pathways program focuses on increasing the number of philanthropic professionals from diverse backgrounds ready to ascend to leadership positions within foundations. Diverse leadership fosters inclusion, innovation and excellence in philanthropy. The Career Pathways program evaluation…

What is Expenditure Responsibility?

Legal Compliance Guidance
Expenditure responsibility is a five step procedure that is designed to ensure that foundation funds are used for exclusively charitable purposes. The five basic steps that are required for completing expenditure responsibility include: Conducting a pre-grant inquiry including a reasonable…

Washington Snapshot - June 5, 2015

Leading Together to Advance Philanthropy Joint Letter Published in The New York Times On Sunday, a New York Times opinion piece offered a troubling take on the state of the charitable sector. David Callahan, who writes for Inside Philanthropy, expressed his view that the sector is the “wild…

Joint Letter Published in the New York Times

On May 30, David Callahan, editor of Inside Philanthropy, published a short-sighted opinion piece on philanthropy in the New York Times. Given its reach, the Council believed that the piece warranted a strong and united response. Working with our colleagues who understand…

Nepal 60 Days Later: What Funders Should Know

Listen to a Recording of the Webinar     On April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rattled Nepal. About two weeks later, a second earthquake occurred in a nearby area that overlapped parts of the first disaster. The combined disasters killed more than 8,500 people and injured more than 18,…

2015 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Survey

The 2015 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Survey is now open. The survey collects information on benefits policies and practices, as well as compensation data for 35 positions at community, corporate, private, public, and operating foundations. The survey will run through July 31, 2015. …

National Recognition of the Council's Legal Team

This week, American Bar Association (ABA) has selected the Council’s Senior Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs Suzanne Friday for its prestigious “Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award” in recognition of “distinguished service by a nonprofit – in-house counsel.” This award is chosen by The…
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