Building Common Ground

You may notice something different about our website and social media presence. That’s right: Your 73-year-old Council on Foundations has a new look! We’re particularly excited to share this during the Council’s Member Week – a time when we celebrate and connect with our nearly 850 member…

  Recent data and research from sources such as the Edelman Trust Barometer suggest declining trust in nonprofits and philanthropy in the United States. Fraying trust in institutions, perceptions that nonprofits and philanthropy are politicized, intensifying critiques of philanthropy as a “…

The 2022 Public Policy Summit will equip foundation leaders and staff with public policy and advocacy tools while also putting them in conversation with top government officials and national policy experts. We will explore philanthropy’s role in building common ground to advance the greater good…

The Council on Foundations’ Executive-in-Residence Program leverages the expertise of executive-level leaders to shape new areas of work that advance the Council’s long-term goal of supporting philanthropy to be a trusted partner in advancing the greater good. Participants in the…

A well-trained staff and an informed board are critical to the success of community foundations in our fast-changing world. This traditionally in-person, two-day course adapted to virtual in four, half day sessions helps new and growing community foundation staff build the essential skills they…

Created and led by experienced community foundation leaders and Council attorneys, this course includes: Basic information on governance, resource development and donor relations; Updates on key legal and legislative issues; Information on grantmaking; and Review of community leadership and…

Led by the Council on Foundations Legal team, this workshop is flexibly organized to ensure that your broad legal questions for administering funds, grants, and corporate foundation activities are addressed. The legal team will provide technical and practical understanding of complex rules and…

Contact: William Szczecinski Prosek Partners 646-818-9029 wszczecinski@prosek.com Contact: Nicole Forman Council on Foundations 202-991-5913 nicole.forman@cof.org New York, NY, (September 24, 2020) — Data gathered in the 2019 Council on Foundations–Commonfund Study…

  WHO: Dalberg Philanthropy California Council on Foundations WHAT: The public health, racial justice, and economic crises of 2020 have affected millions of Americans and laid bare the glaring inequities in our systems and institutions. A new report from Council on Foundations…

Our country is broken. The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the devastating disparities in our society. But these inequities are not new – they have existed and persisted for centuries. The systems and leaders we all depend on continue to fail us. Black communities are under constant threat from…

The CFUnited 2020 Conference is cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. For more information, please see the official conference statement. Learn More   In January 2019, The Council on Foundations joined AdNet, Comma and ProNet as the fourth partner under the CFUnited umbrella to bring the…

What do you do when you have a difficult and complex problem? If you’re like me, you start by trying to understand it. You think the problem through from all angles, looking at the data, talking to people in your community. You study the problem, inside out. Now, what do you do when you're looking…