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. 

National Standards Conference Call

The purpose of this monthly call is to offer community foundation staff a venue to voice questions or concerns related to the National Standards program. The input of community foundation staff is critical to the success of the program. Additionally, this call provides an opportunity for…

Washington Snapshot - October 5, 2017

In This Week's Edition of Snapshot Tax Reform Update: Budget Consideration Maintains Tax Reform Momentum HHS Secretary Price Resigns IRS Changes 1023-EZ Form In the States: Oregon Supreme Court Upholds Portland Arts Tax News from the Hill So, What's Up with Tax Reform? In the coming months…

Webinar Recording: National Trust for Historic Preservation: African American Cultural Heritage Fund

Recording
  The events in Charlottesville and the subsequent debates regarding the treatment of monuments and memorials to Confederate leaders and heroes has contributed to further divisions within our society. Many of our communities are grappling with these issues and seeking ways to bridge the…

Why I Needed the Career Pathways Program

Editorial Note: Pooja Joshi O’Hanlon is one of 24 members of the 2017 cohort of Career Pathways. Over the next week, she and other Pathways participants are sharing their experiences in the Council on Foundations blog. Applications for the Career Pathways program are currently being accepted until…

Global Philanthropy Update - September 2017

September represents the start of a new school year, and at the Council our global program has been incredibly busy this month, from disaster response to major programming alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York. During this 2017 hurricane season, we have witnessed several storms…

New Safe Harbor Procedures for Equivalency Determinations

Tax practitioners love “safe harbors” or specific guidelines that can be followed to ensure a taxpayer or exempt organization is in compliance with applicable tax law. For charitable organizations making grants internationally, September 14, 2017 was a good day because the IRS issued Revenue…

Hurricane Maria: A Deep Dose of Urgent Needs in the Aftermath

Members Access the Recording The purpose of this call was to update interested funders on the current status of unmet rescue and recovery needs identified by the community foundations and FEMA teams on the ground in the U.S. Caribbean islands devastated by Hurricane Maria. The Community…

Washington Snapshot - September 28, 2017

In This Week's Edition of Snapshot Tax Reform Update: Republican leaders unveil tax reform framework Obamacare repeal bill pulled once again HUD releases new strategic plan In the States: State budgets remain in gridlock, Nonprofit responses differ on city demands for payments in lieu of taxes…

Webinar Recording: Transforming Community Foundation Scholarship Programs from Administrative Burdens to Strategic Assets

Legal Compliance Guidance, Recording
Download the Presentation Slides With the Stanislaus Community Foundation, National College Access Network (NCAN), and the Council on Foundations' Legal Team and Director of Community Philanthropy, this webinar explores key findings from a recent white paper published by NCAN on the topic…

Hurricanes Irma and Maria

Disaster Overview Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida on September 10 as a Category 3 storm after leaving a trail of destruction through the Caribbean, including significant devastation throughout the Leeward, U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Haiti. Deaths have been…

New Models and Approaches for a New Era of Development

Zero, in the context of a healthy world, is the most ambitious number of all. If the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were about making progress to achieve a healthy planet and people, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are about getting to zero, or as close to it as possible. The Global…

Mexico Earthquakes

Disaster Overview Mexico experienced two major earthquakes in September 2017. The first, hitting the southern coast of Mexico on September 8th, was one of the biggest ever recorded in the area at a magnitude of 8.1. Only eleven days after this first major disastor, on September 19th, Mexico was hit…

Washington Snapshot - September 21, 2017

In This Week's Edition of Snapshot Tax Reform Update: Budget agreement is first concrete step toward achieving tax reform In the States: Financial shortfalls hamper states' budget negotiations News from the Hill So, What's Up with Tax Reform? In the coming months, we will provide weekly…

Community Foundation Update - September 2017

It has been an eventful month with back to back hurricanes causing extensive damage in Florida,Texas, and the Caribbean. The Council has been in contact with community foundations in the affected areas to offer our thoughts and has set up some valuable resources which I am sharing in this issue.…

Global Impact, Blackbaud, Council on Foundations, & Foundation Center Partner to Promote Global Goals Mapping: A Resource for Social Good Organizations

In collaborative partnership, Global Impact, Blackbaud, Council on Foundations and Foundation Center developed a new resource to support organizations in aligning and tracking charitable giving to the United Nations (U.N.) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More specifically, the creation of “…

Hurricane Irma: What Funders Should Know

On September 14, 2017, the Council on Foundations co-hosted a webinar with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the Southeastern Council on Foundations to provide updates on U.S. damages and the situation throughout the Caribbean, and ways funders can address recovery needs. A panel of experts…
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