Public Foundations

Public foundations are grantmaking public charities that gain their funds from a variety of sources, which may include foundations, individuals, corporations, or public entities. Public foundations may engage in fundraising, and may seek broad public financial support. They may or may not have endowments. There is no legal definition of a public foundation, but most dedicate a significant portion of their annual budgets to grantmaking. Most community foundations are also grantmaking public charities.

Since public foundations may be defined in different ways, and there is no official IRS or legal definition of public foundations, it is difficult to arrive at statistics that are fully representative of the field.

Below is everything on our site for public foundations. We strongly 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/programs-services/public-grantmaking-charities for curated public foundation content. 

Stories of Succession: Involvement is Mandatory

Stephanie Danforth Chafee’s ancestors trace their roots in Rhode Island back to the Mayflower. Her philanthropic heritage in the area is almost as deep and conservative. Her mother was a leading supporter of the Parent Teachers Association, the Zoological Society and the Roger Williams Zoo. Her…

Sample Foundation Investment Policy

Sample Document
This document is an editable foundation investment policy template. This sample document is being provided for informational purposes only and is not to be shared without the permission of the Council on Foundations. Use of the sample document does not create an attorney-client relationship, and…

Hiring An Archival Consultant

Legal Compliance Guidance
The services of a consultant may prove beneficial to an organization considering the creation of a records management or archival program. From a consultation, those who oversee the records and archives project should derive a general sense of the existing historical record of the organization —…

Sample Grant File Index

Sample Document
This sample grant file index allows you to see the types of information which your foundation may need to keep on each of your grantees.

Sample Expenditure Report

Sample Document
This customizable sample report allows you to track expenditures by grantees.

Sample Docket Write-up of Program Goals and Strategies

Sample Document
This sample docket write-up allows you to customize your program goal and strategies.

Sample Docket Format

Sample Completed Docket Write-up

A Colleague's Perspective on Trustee Orientation

External Resource
By Anne H. Morgan Becoming a trustee of a family foundation can be a complex, confusing, and confounding experience. Suddenly you are thrust into a room full of persons whom you thought you knew, but now they are all in different roles. Your favorite aunt, who has always seemed so demure and self…

A Colleague's Perspective on Mission and Vision Statements

Fundamentals
This perspective offered by William Graustein of the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund in 2013 provides useful context on creating your own foundation's mission and vision statements.  When you get down to it, the reason a charitable foundation exists is to change the world or, at least…

Closing Documents Checklist

Sample Document
As you prepare to close out grants, this customizable checklist can help ensure that you've received the appropriate documents from grantees.

Sample Grant Closing Letter

Sample Document
You can send this customizable sample closing letter to grantees upon the conclusion of their grant.

Sample Grant Close-Out Form

Sample Document
This sample grant close-out form can help you wrap up outstanding grants.

Providing Relief in Times of Disaster - Gifts from a Public Charity

Legal Compliance Guidance
Grants to Public Charities from a Public Charity Unless from a donor-advised fund, disaster relief grants to domestic section 501(c) (3) public charities do not present special issues. Grants from a Donor-Advised Fund Disaster relief aid can be provided through a donor-advised fund generally by…

Providing Relief in Times of Disaster - Matching Gifts

Legal Compliance Guidance
Public foundations, community foundations and corporate giving programs may establish a matching gifts program that will match disaster relief gifts made by employees or other donors living in the U.S. or anywhere in the world, provided the grantees are public charities based in the U.S., and gifts…

The Savvy CEO

Publication
The role of the foundation CEO is pivotal to the success of a foundation’s goals. Even at foundations without staff, the tasks of the CEO do not disappear, but rather are carried out by board members. In this publication, we explore some of the critical issues and challenges that foundation CEOs…
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