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. 

Empowering Community through Partnering and Experimentation

Attending this week’s annual Knight Foundation Media Learning Seminar in Miami, we were struck not only by how much has been accomplished by the Knight Community Information Challenge (KCIC), but also by how much the conversation has evolved. It was just a few years ago that Alberto Ibargüen,…

For Community Foundation Media Projects: Rules of the Road for Partnership

As community foundations become active leaders in local news and information, many are learning they don’t need to go it alone. A variety of different partnership models are emerging and they are detailed in a new report by FSG for Knight Foundation.  The report is aimed primarily at…

Community Foundations and Impact Investing of DAFs

On January 9th, Wall Street Journal blogger Veronica Dagher posted an article highlighting the opportunity for philanthropic donors with Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) to create a “double bottom line.” Dagher points out that donors at large national funds, such as Schwab, are increasingly looking not…

How Direct Service Drove Me to Community Impact

I looked down at my phone as it began to ring and I screamed with frustration, “Seriously? Again?!? Don’t they realize that it is 3 p.m. on a Friday?” That was the tagline I was known all too well for when I did housing relocations for tenants. Housing inspectors would notoriously find a home to…

How Mother Nature Changed Our Plans … But Not Our Message

I’ve long been wary about in-house videos. Because, let’s face it, videos can be tough to pull off. So it was with some trepidation that we decided not just to make our first set of short videos this year, but to feature them at our 25th anniversary annual meeting-indeed, to make them the…

Do More than Grow: Realizing the Potential of Community Foundation Donor-Advised Funds

Publication
Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) have been a growth engine for community foundations since the 1990s but the aspiration today is for DAFs to do more. In Do More than Grow: Realizing the Potential of Community Foundation Donor-Advised Funds, new data and analysis of donor behavior reveals the significant…

2012 Columbus Survey Results: Guideposts Point to New Heights

Publication
With this report, CF Insights' aim is to share a snapshot of community foundation asset growth and activity during 2012. The findings are based on 276 community foundation responses to the Columbus Survey as of June 2013.

Benchmarking Beyond Asset Size Top 100 Lists - FY 2012

Publication
In this publication, CF Insights highlights attributes that characterize community foundations in ways beyond asset values. 2012 Columbus Survey participants are ranked based on: Most Active Grantmakers—distribution rates, with percent of donor-advised assets Most Gifts per Capita—gifts per…

2012 Columbus Survey of Community Foundations: List of Top 100 Community Foundations by Asset Size

Publication
Includes results of the FY 2012 Columbus Survey of Community Foundations that pertain to the top 100 community foundations by asset size as of May 22, 2013. The table includes the community foundation name, amount of assets at the time of the survey, and fiscal year end (FYE). Stats are based on FY…

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…
Subscribe to Community Foundations