Administrative fees continue to serve as the main source of operating revenues for community foundations across the field. Larger community foundations will be more likely to maintain somewhat diversified earned revenue streams that include fee for service offerings, while smaller community foundations tend to do more direct fundraising to support operations. Community foundations often seek to generate surplus revenues that could be reinvested into mission-aligned, community leadership efforts that might include policy advocacy and the commissioning of research initiatives to better understand evolving community needs.
Averages were used to total 100%. (n=125)
| | $0-$25M | $25-$50M | $50-$100M | $100-$250M | $250-$500M | $500M+ | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Administrative fees | 65% | 82% | 65% | 81% | 77% | 81% | 76% |
| % Fees for service | 1% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 2% |
| % Transaction fees | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 3% | 1% |
| % Fundraising: operations | 24% | 7% | 10% | 7% | 3% | 4% | 8% |
| % Fundraising: programmatic | 2% | 0% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 3% | 2% |
| % Distribution from endowment/reserve | 6% | 9% | 14% | 8% | 11% | 5% | 9% |
| % Other revenue | 2% | 2% | 7% | 1% | 5% | 0% | 2% |