Strengthening Communities
2020 CFUnited Conference: Power of Place - CANCELLED
The CFUnited 2020 Conference is cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. For more information, please see the official conference statement.
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In January 2019, The Council on Foundations joined AdNet, Comma and ProNet as the fourth partner under the CFUnited umbrella to bring…
Community Foundations at the Heart of Building Broader Communities in Americas
A Mexican American Linguist describes that in U.S. we would say “why has one of us stolen a television?”.
In Mexico, it would be, “one of us has stolen a television, why have we done this?”
The emphasis is not on punishing the individual at fault but recognizing our collective failure to…
Community Foundation Excellence (CFE) Fundamentals Course - Dallas, TX - CANCELLED
Due to rapidly escalating health concerns relating to the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the Council on Foundations has decided to cancel this Community Foundation Excellence (CFE) Fundamentals Course. This decision was made out of concern for the health and well-being of our attendees.
We…
Legal Matters for Community Foundations - Charlotte, NC - CANCELLED
This event is canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We will work to find an alternate date to offer the course, subject to the containment of COVID-19 and ability to travel.
Council Coronavirus Resource Hub
Led by the Council on Foundations Legal Team and Brad Ward, Lead Straegist…
Inclusive Economic Prosperity White Paper
In 2018, the Council on Foundations introduced a series of summits on inclusive economic prosperity. These summits were designed to help foundation leaders better understand the leading role that philanthropy can play in developing inclusive economic prosperity outcomes locally.
Given the…
Community Foundation Week Resources
Celebrating National Community Foundation Week
November 12-18: Engage with Your Local Community Today!
Community Foundation Week, created in 1989 by former President George H.W. Bush, recognizes the important work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative and innovative…
Previewing the UN General Assembly: A Global Community of Actors
Previewing the UN General Assembly: A global community of actors
The world faces pressing challenges that require global responses – the climate crisis, entrenched inequality, migration, and more. But with international cooperation increasingly at risk, actions taken at the local level are ever…
Community Philanthropy Update—May 2019
This time of year, I receive numerous inquiries about administrative fees. Perhaps it is first quarter investment return reviews or something in the spring air—but my response to the question about ‘lowering fees’ is fairly consistent—why would we encourage the lowering of fees?
To begin, I have…
Webinar Recording: Post-Graduation Scholarships: What Are They and How Can You Use Them?
Recording
Interested in alleviating the student loan debt crisis and attracting needed talent to your community? This webinar is for you! Last year, the Workforce Development Through Post-Graduation Scholarships Act was introduced in Congress. This bill would allow charitable foundations to…
Opportunity Zones
What are Opportunity Zones?
Created by changes to the tax code in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017, Opportunity Zones are state-nominated, economically depressed communities that are in need of new investment. These investments could, under certain circumstances, be eligable for…
Webinar Recording: Fostering the Grassroots Leadership Capacity of Community
Recording
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Community Foundations around the country recognize that they must deploy capital beyond financial assets to improve their regions. At the same time, our community leadership has grown frustrated by the pace of change. Most of these leaders have come to understand that…
Webinar Recording: Preventing and Ending Homelessness by Removing Legal Barriers: A Partnership Taking Best Practice to Scale
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While housing, employment and other supportive services are critical to prevent and end homelessness, the reality is legal barriers such as bad credit, unpaid child support, unpaid fines and tickets, outstanding warrants and criminal records present a hard stop that…
CDFI Fund Map of All Census Tracts Eligible for Designation as a Qualified Opportunity Zone
External Resource
The CDFI Fund has identified over 41,000 population census tracts that are eligible for designation as a QOZ, including (1) 31,680 population census tracts that are Low-Income Communities (LICs) eligible for designation as QOZs; and (2) 9,453 non-LIC population census tracts that are eligible for…
US Impact Investing Alliance Resources on Opportunity Zones
External Resource
Now that Opportunity Zones have been designated, individual and corporate investors are then given the opportunity to defer capital gains taxes when they reinvest the earnings in these communities. Additional incentives accrue over five, seven and ten years if the investment is maintained – thereby…
How Community Foundations Can Use the Opportunity Zone Tax Incentive for Community Development?
External Resource
This white paper from the Community Foundation Public Awareness Initiative discusses a timely and significant opportunity for community foundations (CFs): How they can use the recently enacted federal Opportunity Zone tax incentive to benefit communities in need by leveraging their knowledge of…
Community Foundations, Meet Opportunity Zones
External Resource
Guest writer Adam Northup, LOCUS Advisor, shares what every Community Foundation should know about Opportunity Zones. Created by the new tax law, this new tool has the potential to revitalize left behind communities.