Ralston Named President of the Community Foundations National Standards Board
The Community Foundations National Standards Board (CFNSB) is pleased to announce that Hugh Ralston, president and CEO of the Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF), is its new president. A supporting organization of the Council on Foundations, the CFNSB is responsible for the quality, value, and integrity of compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations™. The board ensures that National Standards remain relevant amid changing policies, procedures and regulations, and coordinates developments in the compliance process.
“I am honored to be elected the president of the board that is charged with this important responsibility for our field. In an era when transparency and effectiveness are important markers, the community foundation field continues to distinguish itself as being the only group within philanthropy that certifies its members against rigorous standards of accountability and practice that is designed to be best of class,” Ralston says. “My fellow board members, representing community foundations across the country, take this work seriously, as we know our donors and stakeholder expect us to, and we look forward to ensuring these National Standards continue to reflect the best of what community foundations can do for our communities and those who live and work in them.”
Together with the board and staff of the VCCF, Ralston manages donor-advised and donor-designated funds, scholarship and field of interest funds, agency endowments, and other programs such as the Center for Nonprofit Leadership, the Ventura County Civic Alliance, and the Martin V. and Martha K. Smith Foundation. The foundation also serves as the fiscal agent for a unique collaborative, Ventura County Together, which has distributed $300,000 in grants to address ongoing needs for homeless prevention, hunger, and access to medical care in partnership with the local First 5 commission and the United Way.
Ralston has served on the CFNSB since 2009, and has extensive nonprofit experience, including four years as executive director of the Catholic Education Foundation in Los Angeles. He has also has served as a director/trustee for many organizations over the past 15 years, including Scripps College in Claremont, Calif.; the San Francisco Theological Seminary; Southern California Grantmakers; the Workforce Investment Board of Ventura County; the Ventura County Community Commission; the Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara; and KDB Radio.
