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Webinar Recording: Words Matter: Getting Your Communications Ready for #CFWeek
Recording
With Community Foundation Week (#CFWeek) just days away, this midday webinar is the perfect time to brush up on communications tips around pitching press releases, creating marketing email campaigns that click with your audience, navigating social media, and showcasing your foundation's work…
Can Corporate Giving Benefit Company Employees? Let's Find Out
Recording
View the Slides
At the Council, we are often asked how corporations can fund scholarship programs for company employees and dependents. Similarly, corporations often want to assist employees in times of crisis, whether due to a natural disaster or a more personal tragedy. In both cases, the…
ER Causing You Trauma? Diagnosing the Rules and Regulations for Expenditure Responsibility
Recording
View the Slides
The steps of expenditure responsibility are the federally-mandated procedures a private foundation (and DAFs) must follow for any grant made to a non-charity. While the rules for exercising expenditure responsibility are relatively straightforward, many issues and concerns can…
The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2011-2015
Publication, Research
The Council on Foundations and Candid (formerly Foundation Center) analyzed how U.S. foundations supported international communities, nonprofits, and programs between 2011 and 2015 for our report, The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2011-2015.
In addition to a detailed analysis of…
Webinar Recording: Lunch with Legal Counsel
Recording
The administrative costs of operating a private foundation often prove too burdensome and can easily swamp the grantmaking activity of private foundations, especially the smaller ones. As such, a foundation may decide to transfer its assets to a Sponsoring Organization to take advantage of the…
Lunch with Legal Counsel: Motivations for Corporate Giving – Proceed with Caution!
Recording
Suzanne Friday, Senior Legal Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs at the Council, will discuss the goals and motivations driving corporate giving, with a particular focus on corporate foundations. Also, take this opportunity to meet Lindsay Mason, the new Director of Corporate…
Fiscal Sponsorship
Legal Compliance Guidance, Publication
A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law:
The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources
Fiscal sponsorship provides a valuable tool for charitable entrepreneurs to realize their vision by working with an established charity that takes in tax-deductible donations and private foundation…
Top 10 Questions from the Council's First Legal Matters Workshop
Recording
Miss our Legal Matters for Community Foundations Workshop in Dallas, or did you attend, but really want to hone in on some of the bigger questions that arose from the convening? Workshop hosts Suzanne Friday and Brad Ward will walk you through some of the biggest and most prevelant community…
Voter Engagement Foundation Toolkits
Toolkit
The philanthropic sector has a unique opportunity to highlight the voices and concerns of the communities it works with. Nonprofit VOTE, Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations believes we should bring those voices to the forefront. By producing a toolkit to provide nonpartisan support,…
Opportunity Zones - A Value to Your Community?
Fundamentals
What are Opportunity Zones?
Created by changes to the tax code in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017, Opporunity Zones are state-nominated, economically depressed communities that are in need of new investment. These investments could, under certain circumstances, be eligable for…
Legal Considerations for Corporate Foundations
Legal Compliance Guidance, Publication
A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law:
The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources
Many businesses set up related charitable organizations for the purpose of engaging in philanthropic endeavors supported by the company. Because the funding for these charitable organizations is derived…
Local Leadership, Global Impact: Community Foundations and the Sustainable Development Goals
Publication
Launched at the first North American Community Foundation Summit in Mexico City on February 5, 2018, Local Leadership, Global Impact: Community Foundations and the Sustainable Development Goals highlights the growing presence and impact of community foundations around the world and teaches…
Webinar Recording: Data: Not Another Four Letter Word
Recording
This is the first part of a webinar series on digitalization and its impact on community foundations — Digitalization and the Community Foundation Business Model: Data and Transperancy.
Data can be overwhelming. But is it possible to harness your foundation’s data and turn it from a challenge…
From Global Goals to Local Impact
Publication
How Philanthropy Can Help Achieve the
U.N. Sustainable Development Goals in the U.S.
As implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals becomes a priority of the world, philanthropy has an opportunity to make an impact. This report from the Council on Foundations examines how U.S. funders…
Hacking the Sustainable Development Goals: Can US Cities Measure Up?
External Resource
The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to address the world’s most pressing challenges, from poverty to climate change, by aligning priorities and developing shared metrics to measure progress. While the SDG framework is designed for nations, all levels of government will need data to track…
Sustainable Development Goals Event Toolkit
Sample Document
In 2017 and 2018, the Council on Foundations hosted a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) events in various states across the country. We created an events toolkit to support you as you host your own SDGs event in your community. The toolkit includes useful resources such as a sample…
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As a benefit of membership, the Council on Foundations attorneys and legal staff provide information and education to Council members regarding a variety of topics related to foundation operations and legal compliance. All information on this website, and all publications, articles, e-mail correspondence and telephone consultations provided by Council attorneys and legal staff are intended for informational purposes only and not as part of an attorney-client relationship. Council attorneys are not licensed in every state and cannot provide legal representation.
The information is not a substitute for expert legal, tax or other professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances, and may not be relied upon for the purposes of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code. Council members may e-mail legal@cof.org with inquiries and for more information.
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