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. 

The Role of Nonprofit Media in a Vibrant Civil Society

  Download the Slides   The Council on Foundations, nonprofit media organizations, foundations, journalists, academics, and other stakeholders held a conversation about the role of nonprofit media in fostering a vibrant civil society in local communities. Nonprofit media…

Center for Community Foundation Excellence (CCFE) Fundamentals Course - New England Region

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 by experienced…

Global Regulation of Philanthropy

The Council develops substantive policy positions on behalf of its members; submits regulatory comments and letters to U.S. policymakers, foreign governments, and intergovernmental bodies; and advocates before domestic and international bodies that set policies impacting cross-border philanthropy…

Electronic Filing of Form 990

All 501(c)(3) charitable organizations are required to file the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 in accordance with the annual reporting requirements under Sec. 6033 of the Internal Revenue Code. This form asks for detailed information about the activities of the charity for the reporting…

Nonprofit Political Activity

501(c)(3) Charitable Organizations Under current law, 501(c)(3) charitable organizations are prohibited from participating in, or intervening in (including the publishing and distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office…

D5: Policies, Practices, and Programs for Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

External Resource
To support leaders in their efforts to take meaningful action to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their organizations, D5 commissioned JustPartners, Inc. to identify the most effective policies, practices, and programs to advance DEI. The Analysis of Policies, Practices, and…

Serve Those Who've Served Our Nation

On the Fourth of July, our nation comes together to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy, freedoms our service members, veterans and their families have made possible through their sacrifices. Just as Americans responded to the call to defend our liberties, our nation must respond to our call to duty –…

2015 Endowments and Financial Services Summit

Stephanie Bell-Rose, Senior Managing Director of the TIAA-CREF Institute, shares the Working Group's vision of the Endowments and Financial Services Summit. Working with some of the top professionals in philanthropy, the Council is organizing a special summit for c-suite executives who…

Passing National Standards: What We've Learned in Beta

  Download the Presentation Slides The National Standards for Community Foundations online application has been live in beta testing since January- how is it going? What feedback has been received? Director of National Standards, Lara Kalwinski, and the Vice President for Development at…

Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT)

Issue Under Section 512(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, nonprofits are subject to tax on gross income, minus directly connected expenses, for activities that constitute an “unrelated trade or business.” The Code offers a three-pronged test for determining whether a particular activity…

Supporting Organizations

November 15, 2017 Supporting organizations are important charitable tools that donors can use to achieve their specific philanthropic goals. Many of the Council’s members utilize supporting organizations to maximize their impact. Often, a supporting organization manages fundraising or…

Go Small or Go Home: Building an Impact Investing Program

Ask the Expert! Want to learn more about Impact Investing? Join us for webinar discussion, Impact Investing and Community Foundations: The Nuts and Bolts. Trisha will join her colleagues Kelly Ryan (Incourage Community Foundation) and Lisa Richter (Avivar Capital) to talk you through the steps…

One Hundred Years of Community: Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Boston and Chicago

In 2014, the Cleveland Foundation became the first community foundation in the world to turn 100 years old.  After Frederick H. Goff founded Cleveland’s community foundation in 1914, the idea quickly took off across the United States and today there are an estimated 1,800 community foundations…

106th Annual NAACP Convention Address

Delivered Monday, July 13 during the 2015 NAACP National Convention along with Senator Casey, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chairman G.K. Butterfield and more. The full video remarks can be viewed here with Vikki Spruill starting at 1:11.  Good morning! My name is Vikki Spruill…

Taking Giving Days to the Next Level

Originally featured on the Knight Foundation Blog on July 8, 2015 For many community foundations, Giving Days have been a great way to cultivate donors for their community’s nonprofits, while raising millions for local causes. Several funders have gained so much expertise in this area, that they…

Youth In Philanthropy: Community Foundation for Northern Virginia Visit

Interning at the Council on Foundations is giving us a great look at a cross-section of the philanthropic field. The Council’s members, after all, come in all shapes and sizes – large, small, corporate, community foundations, and everything in between. As much as we research them, as much as we…
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