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. 

Leading Together 2021 - Unable to Attend

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Leading Together 2021 - Concurrent Sessions

  Concurrent sessions Leading Together 2021 centered trust and equity as critical cornerstones of strong partnerships and effective, high integrity philanthropy. The conference featured programming you won't find anywhere else. Our concurrent sessions focused on one of three themes.…

PhilEx Live: Accepting Cryptocurrency Gifts

Developed out of a trending conversation on the Philanthropy Exchange (PhilEx), the Council invites you to join a member-only peer-led discussion around accepting cryptocurrency gifts. Join peers from member organizations across the country to discuss the steps they are taking…

A Census Like No Other: A Multi-Sector, Community-Focused Partnership

Despite having millions of households considered “hard-to-count,” and being challenged by a global pandemic, California successfully implemented Census outreach in 2020, generating a 69.6% response rate, higher than the national average response rate. In this session, foundation,…

Numbers Don’t Lie: A Data-Guided Approach to Addressing Racial Inequities in Philanthropic Practice

Philanthropic giving to communities of color remains low. In 2016, The Pittsburgh Foundation began a journey toward more just grantmaking, leading with data to achieve greater equity. This session will provide an overview of an approach that led to sustained increases in monetary and non-monetary…

Participation, Power and Philanthropy: Putting Nonprofits and Communities in the Driver's Seat

As grantmakers, our desire to have a transformational impact on the communities we serve catalyzes and ignites our work. To create the greatest impact, we must work in tandem with nonprofits and those with lived experience to sufficiently understand the issues and to co-create a path forward. What…

Digital Dependencies, Discrimination, and Democracy: What are Philanthropy’s Roles?

Every aspect of public life depends on digital systems. Awareness and adaptation to the potential harms of digital systems is critical to pursuing positive change. Black women are leading the way in scholarship and advocacy regarding the intersections of digital systems, racism and discrimination…

Building the Next-Generation Community Investment Ecosystem: How Foundations Can Advance Racial Equity

Will recovery from COVID-19 and racial reckoning finally bring our society closer to racial justice? This session will explore how foundations can shift the ways capital enters communities of color by helping to build investment ecosystems that finance community priorities. Participants will…

Bridging Federal and State Political Divides to Address Family Economic Inequality

Join the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, and the American Public Human Services Association on their journey to advance whole family approaches to economic mobility, leveraging a unique public-private partnership with diverse perspectives including…

Reclaiming Community

Designed by and for community foundation CEOs, this preconference session will focus on the critical role community foundations play in building community. Specifically, we will explore the role of community foundations in repairing the frayed threads of trust, unity and inclusion in our…

Community Foundation Legal Question of the Month

June 2021 We have a DAF advisor who is interested in making a grant to a new nonprofit organization that is still waiting on their 501(c)(3) determination. The grant they are recommending is for a specific project of the organization. Can we still make the grant if we do expenditure responsibility…

Reclaiming Community

  Reclaiming Community June 14 | 12:00-3:00 p.m. ET Designed by and for community foundation CEOs, this preconference session will focus on the critical role community foundations play in building community. Specifically, we will explore the role of community foundations in…

Leading Together 2021 - Sponsors

  Sponsors The Council thanks all of our sponsors for their generous support of Leading Together. If you're interested in how you can partner with us to create an exceptional experience, learn about our sponsor opportunities.   Sponsor…

Corporate Legal - Ask Me Anything FAQs

What is the Philanthropy Exchange? The Philanthropy Exchange is a peer-to-peer platform that connects Council members around shared interests, topics, or resources. The Exchange is a member-only benefit open to Council members and invited guests. To help you get started on the Exchange, here is a…

Corporate Legal Ask Me Anything

As a corporate grantmaker, do you have questions about legal challenges impacting your work? From self-dealing considerations to legal rules around scholarships and employee assistance programs, all topics are up for discussion and support from the Council’s legal team during our Corporate Legal…

Leading Together 2021 - Working Group

  Working group We want to thank and recognize the hard work of the amazing group of individuals who helped us plan Leading Together 2021.   Co-chairs       Deidre Lind President & CEO,…
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