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.

FCAA Connect Webinar: How to Build Resilient and Strong Organizations

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Reflective Break: Summarize It

Join your fellow conference attendees for a fun activity to exchange thoughts and lessons learned from Leading Together 2021. We will utilize a Jam Board to help attendees visualize concepts and takeaways to ensure you can continue to share the knowledge you gained with your colleagues and networks.

Pop Up Session: Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act (ACE Act)

On June 9, Senators King (I-ME) and Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act (ACE Act) — a bill that would have far reaching impacts on the philanthropic sector. In this conversation, we will share what’s in the ACE Act, talk about why the Council is opposed,…

Summary of Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act ("ACE Act")

The ACE Act, sponsored by Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), would modify existing rules relating to donor advised funds (“DAFs”), make certain changes to the rules for the excise tax on undistributed income of private foundations, and exempt certain private foundations from the…

Council on Foundations Opposes the Accelerating Charitable Efforts Act (ACE Act)

On June 9, 2021, Senators King (I-ME) and Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act. The Council on Foundations opposes this legislation. The bill has several provisions that would negatively impact the philanthropic sector, including: Establishing new and…

2021 HR Retreat

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HIGHLIGHTS - Racial Equity: Moving Companies from Promise to Action

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Reflective Break: Summarize It

Reflective Break: Goal Setting

It’s always a good time of year to set goals! Whether you’ve kept up with your professional or personal goals or need a reset (no judgment!), join us for this quick session to get you back on track with your goals for 2021 and beyond.

HUD Secretary's Award for Public Philanthropic Partnerships

The Secretary's Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships recognizes cross-sector partnerships between the philanthropic and public sectors that effectively increase the quality of life for low- and moderate-income residents across all American geographies—urban, suburban, and rural.…

Town Hall: Unveiling the Council's New Strategic Direction

How can philanthropy meet the needs of our communities and our world with fierce urgency? What does philanthropy need from the Council to be able to shape a future that is better for everyone? The board and staff of the Council on Foundations, with generous member guidance, have created a new…

Leading Together 2021 - All Programming

All programming

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Designing Women: Why Women of Color Hold the Key to True Equity

Join us for a conversation with a group of highly experienced women of color from different sectors within philanthropy and investment who coalesced to create a Design Council, ultimately helping to build the investment strategy of a major foundation. We’ll share both their vision for the…

Shifting Power to Young People: New Visions for Philanthropy

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