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. 

Inclusive Strategies for Community-Driven Philanthropy

In 2012 a network of community philanthropies in Washington State came together, committed to making philanthropy more equitable through community-led and driven solutions. Three cohort members will share how learning together fueled innovation in their approaches to fostering belonging across…

Insights from a Place-Based Minority Business Learning Cohort

This session highlights the power of partnerships through learning cohorts. Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fund donated $100 million to support small business owners who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami. A national learning…

Increasing Trust Amid Decreasing Attention

Nonprofit leaders and funders alike say storytelling is simultaneously one of their greatest needs and greatest challenges. Attention is increasingly fragmented and audiences are fatigued by marketing campaigns and clever pitches. In this session, you will learn how increasing the dimensionality of…

Leveraging Narrative Power to Inspire Stronger Communities

Participants in this session will gain insight into their role in supporting place-based, community-driven stories. This session is relevant for communications and program staff, executive leaders, and board members. Because narrative work spans all sectors, both place-based and issue-based funders…

How Funders Can Lead with Humility in Community-Centered Collaboration

What does it look like for funders to truly center the expertise and goals of community? The Houston Economic Growth Collaborative is a multi-sector initiative exploring the potential to invest more than $100M over 10 years in resident-defined priorities. Leaders will share early lessons on…

Listening to Shift Power: Kellogg Foundation's Experience with Participatory Philanthropy in Hawai’i

Fund for Shared Insight, a national funder collaborative, invited funders to a participatory climate initiative in Hawai’i. The Kellogg Foundation, which funds in Hawai’i, and is committed to equity, was a core partner. The effort was designed to involve people most impacted by climate change in…

How Can Foundations Affect Family Economic Stability and System Change

How do funders build lasting change in our communities? The Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga and The Pew Charitable Trusts share examples of recent partnerships in Tennessee and Minnesota on strategies and tools to address eviction and court-enforced debt collection. This session will…

High-Quality Ways to Hear Directly From Communities

Many funders rely on feedback from grantees to improve their grantmaking, but hesitate to go right to the source and listen to the people at the heart of their work. It can be daunting to listen directly to communities, but it’s an essential part of responsible stewardship and equitable strategies…

Getting to 100% Mission Alignment

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation, designed for organizational leaders and foundation investment professionals, that challenges the conventional philanthropic dialogue on grantmaking. Rather than focusing solely on the 5% spending debate, we will discuss the often overlooked 95% of funds…

Looking to the Future of Board Governance

Are foundation boards composed in a just way? Are they equipped to enhance the creativity and innovation needed across the nonprofit sector? Foundation governance mostly occurs out of view and often flies under the radar of discussion and debate in the sector. Two Minnesota foundation CEOs—Tuleah…

Lunch Plenary Session: Funding the Rural-Urban Connection

Rural and urban communities need each other. But while their interdependence plays out in their economies, cultures, and environments, prevailing narratives center on differences and divides. Meanwhile, rural communities account for close to 20 percent of the population, but they receive only 7…

Breakfast Plenary Session: From Rupture to Repair

The journey beyond toxic polarization and record levels of mistrust begins when we reknit the fabric of our civic lives: our places, our institutions, and, most importantly, our relationships. A critical first step is to take responsibility for harm and actively work to repair the ties that have…

Measuring Place-Based Investments

For foundations that support economic development in underinvested communities, it can be difficult to know when we’re moving the needle. Through a partnership with Mastercard Data Services, The Chicago Community Trust is combining real-time economic impact data with insights from local residents…

Examining Your Foundation's Systems Through an Equity Lens

Hosted by Community Foundation Opportunity Network (CFON) Join us for an opportunity to examine and gain a deeper understanding of the internal systems change needed for community foundations (and other grantmaking organizations) to authentically engage in external systems change and equity work.…

Moving from Surviving to Thriving Using the Vital Conditions for Health and Wellbeing Framework

Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD), a public private initiative of the Delaware Community Foundation, and ReThink Health, an initiative of the Rippel Foundation are partnering to catalyze and foster thriving communities. Learn how HCD leverages the Vital Conditions for Health and Wellbeing…

Engaging Communities Across Geography

How do community foundations engage people across expansive geographies to support local communities and yet achieve economies of scale to maximize the impact their work? This session will explore various models of community foundations attempting to do this work-- from the traditional affiliate…
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