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(link is external) 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. 

Council Member Update

Members, View the Recording For philanthropy, the year 2017 has brought a number of issues to the forefront: tax reform has moved to center stage on Capitol Hill; proposals for massive government budget cuts have turned eyes towards philanthropy to fill the gap; and recent incidents like…

A Word on Partnerships: Council’s Legal Team Working Side by Side With Regional Partners

When people think of the myriad of partnerships in which the Council engages, the legal team may not come first to mind. But the fact of the matter is, the legal team regularly engages with other organizations, particularly our regional partners, on behalf of the sector. Recently, I, along with my…

Global Philanthropy Update - August 2017

I hope you have been enjoying a relatively mild summer, using the time to explore the outdoors and hopefully take a much needed vacation. As the end of summer draws near, we are fully in planning-mode. This September marks two years since we began supporting the Sustainable Development Goals at the…

Bias in Performance Management Review Process

Building off the Council’s HR Summit, this webinar addresses the topic of bias and its impact on the performance management process. Removing subjectivity from performance management is nearly impossible given the universality of unconscious bias. This raises the question: are there even ways to…

2018 Public Policy Summit

Philanthropy is a driver of civil society. It fuels the programs and movements that shape our culture across communities. In this role, foundations are uniquely situated with the experience and expertise to lead the way forward on issues that affect people throughout our nation and across the globe…

Place-Based Community Foundations - what is the extent of our reach?

In the Council’s recently published Community Foundation Business Model Disruptions in the 21st Century, Kevin Murphy cited a debate simmering in the community foundation field about the future of community foundation business model. At the Council, we have seen a growing trend in community…

COF TBT: A Glimpse at Past Interns

Editor’s Note: As our Summer 2017 Intern Class wraps up, we asked Communications Intern Meghan Ervine to track down past interns and see where they are now and what they gained from the Council internship experience. Details on the Council’s Fall 2017 internship opportunities and how to apply can…

Developing Agility for Community Foundation Leaders

This spring I traveled to Japan, where I had the opportunity to visit the Hosoo textile company in Kyoto. The company was founded in 1688 and has been passed down through 12 generations of the same family, still sitting on the same site. Formerly focused on textiles for traditional garments used in…

2018 HR Summit

The 2018 HR Summit: Developing Our Talent, co-hosted by the Council on Foundations and CHANGE Philanthropy, is your unique opportunity to share your personal and organizational journey as it relates to talent management and development. This collective will provide a forum for peer-to-peer…

A Word on Partnerships: Leveraging Partnerships to Discuss Global Issues in Local Communities

Recently, Council staff traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to join more than 50 funders to discuss how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are relevant to local challenges facing communities across the Southwest. The gathering was the sixth city in a series of national conversations about the…

Community Foundation Update – August 2017

First, a bit of exciting personal news: my family is anticipating the arrival of our second child any day now—thus, I will eventually be on paternity leave until early September. During this time, I will have an away message with an array of ways for you to connect with the right person. We are…

The New Supporting Framework to Accreditation

Say hello to Armature, the new technical software designed specifically to collect data for program accreditation. As I uploaded my foundation documents and data to apply for accreditation, I couldn’t help but to smile due to the ease of entering data and uploading documents to the system. As a…

The Council and San Diego Grantmakers: Partnering to Support Veterans Philanthropy

The Council and the San Diego Grantmakers are teaming up to support the Veterans Philanthropy Exchange by co-hosting a mid-year convening in San Diego on November 29 and 30. The Veterans Philanthropy Exchange is a network of grantmakers that support nonprofits providing services and resources to…

Community Foundation Legal Webinar

Members, View the Recording Community Foundations: Gearing up for Year-End Spend 90 minutes with the Council's legal staff to explore topics associated with year-end.   As well, take a moment out to celebrate #CFWeek and gear up for #GivingTuesday! Topics Include:  Year-end gift…

Washington Snapshot - August 3, 2017

In This Week's Edition of Snapshot Tax Reform Update: Tax reform faces competing legislative priorities Move to weaken the Johnson Amendment advances in the House, NASCO speaks out Kautter confirmed for key Treasury position IRS takes steps to encourage charitable giving in the wake of…

Recollections from the Next Generation: Council Interns Reflect

By Meghan Irvine It is truly mind boggling to think that my time at the Council is wrapping up. It seemed like just yesterday, or six short weeks ago to be exact, that I was nervously entering a new internship in an unfamiliar city, with little knowledge about foundations and having no idea what…
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