Newsletters

Community Philanthropy Update - February 2025

Thursday, February 20, 2025 - 3:44 pm

Natalie Ross

Greetings Friend,

For the past two years, we’ve had the privilege to serve as the founding co-chairs for the Council’s reconvened Advisory Group for the Center for Community Foundations. As our terms end, we want to thank our fellow Advisory Group members for their thoughtfulness and generosity, which made this experience as rewarding as it was. On their behalf, we are sharing updates on where the group goes from here and how you can be a part of it.

In 2024, we explored topics such as proposed donor-advised fund regulations, how community foundations respond to disasters, and what we should keep on our radar as the new presidential administration begins. We also helped shape the strategic direction of the Council’s work. We provided early input on the major themes for Leading Locally 2025, gave guidance for how to approach the acquisition of CF Insights, and shared feedback during the early planning stages of the Center for Community Foundations. The group looks forward to engaging in future conversations related to policy, bridging divides during polarizing times, and the continued evolution of the community foundation business model.

If you are interested in this unique opportunity to connect with other community foundation leaders and inform the Council’s work in the field, now is the time to join the Advisory Group in 2025!

If you’re an executive, C-suite, or vice president level staff member at a community foundation, submit your application by February 28. During this critical moment for our nation, when the field is needed more than ever to effectively serve our communities, we hope you’ll strongly consider this leadership opportunity.

Our time serving as Co-Chairs for the group has been incredibly fulfilling. We are excited to continue supporting the Council as it supports the work of community foundations across the country.

Best,

2023-24 Co-Chairs, Advisory Group for the Center for Community Foundations

Kristi Knous President Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	Heather Peeler President and Chief Executive Officer ACT for Alexandria

Upcoming Events

Foundations on the Hill 2025

February 23-26 | Washington, DC | Advocacy Conference

Member Policy Briefing: Midsize Community Foundations - February Meeting

February 27 | Virtual | Peer Event

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Peer Learning Circle 2025 Kick-Off

February 27 | Virtual | Peer Event

SDG Learning Circle for Foundations

March 18 | Virtual | Peer Event

Legal Matters for Community Foundations

March 18 & 20 | Virtual | Training

Leading Across Differences - March Peer Learning Circle

March 26 | Virtual | Peer Event

Public Policy Action Network - April Meeting

April 7 | Virtual | Peer Event

Community Foundation Excellence (CFE) Fundamentals Course - Virtual

May 6, 8, 13, 15 | Virtual | Training

Retreat for New Foundation Executive Leaders

May 8-9 | Indianapolis, IN | Executive Retreat

Leading Locally 2025

June 10-12, 2025 | Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | Sector Event

New Member Spotlight

Welcome to the community foundations that have joined as new Council members since our last newsletter! We're excited to have Brooklyn Org, the Community Foundation of Jackson County (JCCF, Inc.), Community Foundation of Northern Nevada, Community Foundation for Southwest Washington, Peninsula Community Foundation of Virginia, The Schenectady Foundation, and Starved Rock Country Community Foundation as new members.

Resources You Can Use

Legal Question of the Month with Staff Counsel Remy Barnwell

Question: What are we legally required to have/follow in relation to expenditure responsibilities? Especially for grants coming from donor-advised funds.

Remy-Barnwell-1 Answer: The legal requirements of expenditure responsibility can be found in section 4945(h) of the Internal Revenue Code. It clarifies that the foundation is responsible to exert all reasonable efforts to establish adequate procedures to see that the grant is spent solely for the purpose for which it was made, obtain full and complete reports from the grantee on how the funds are spent, and make full and detailed reports regarding the grants to the IRS.

Expenditure responsibility is a requirement for all grants from donor advised funds to noncharities. Although distributions from other fund types to noncharities don’t face the same legal requirements, it’s a best practice to adopt a due diligence policy which you can think of as “diet” expenditure responsibility or expenditure responsibility “light.” With any grant to a noncharity, no matter the fund type, you want to be sure that the assets are used solely for the agreed upon charitable purpose.

Council members are encouraged to send any legal inquiries to legal@cof.org.

Leading Locally 2025 Early Registration Deadline: Next Friday, February 28

There's just one week left to save on your Leading Locally 2025 registration. Connect with over 1,000 community and place-based funders in Minneapolis-St. Paul this June to learn and share with colleagues from around the country. Make sure you can attend at our lowest rate by registering by next Friday, February 28! Register for Leading Locally 2025 today!

CF Insights Highlight

Coming Soon: FY23 CF Insights Annual Survey Results

Representing the growth and operations of hundreds of community foundations, the latest CF Insights Annual Survey Results will highlight year over year changes in assets, fundraising, and grantmaking, the asset compositions of community foundations of different sizes, donor-advised fund activity relative to other fund types, and more.

If your community foundation is a member of the Council with the Plus Membership add-on, you don’t need to wait for the publication of these results. Sign in to the CF Insights benchmarking platform and run reports featuring this data, anytime. Visit cof.org/cfinsights or email cfinsights@cof.org to learn more.

New Publication: Coming Together, Not Apart - Part 2

The second report in our Coming Together, Not Apart publication series is a deep dive into the actual work philanthropy is doing today to navigate divides, training a spotlight on five real-world initiatives to examine the theories of change behind these efforts, describe how the work is playing out, and explore how impact is measured to determine success.

Download the report for free to see how fellow community foundations are engaging in connecting and collaborating across differences.

SDG Learning Circle for Foundations

Are you working on advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or open to learning more about how the SDGs can fit within your work?

You're invited to our monthly peer learning circle, where we discuss SDG hot topics including education, local implementation, community alignment and communication, professional development, data, grantmaking, and more. Register for our next session on March 18!