What is a Community Foundation?
A community foundation is a charitable organization created by and for the community.
More than just an organization, it’s an opportunity for neighbors to leverage the power of collective giving to make sure their community stays strong and supported for years to come.
Specifically, a community foundation is a place where people come together to pool financial resources to act like a community savings account.
The foundation also employs a team of experienced philanthropic leaders who work to steward contributions and stay in-tune with community needs to ensure funds will make a positive impact right here at home.
Here’s how it works:
- Pooling Resources: Just like putting money into a savings account, individuals, families, businesses, and organizations contribute funds to the community foundation.
- Investing in the Community: The foundation takes these contributions and invests them wisely to grow funds over time, providing ongoing financial support for the foundation’s goal — local impact. Most contributions to a community foundation are put into an endowment fund, which invests money to earn interest that can be used to fund charitable activity. An endowment fund will earn interest in perpetuity, making every contribution, no matter the size, a gift that keeps on giving.
- Grantmaking: Then, the foundation uses the interest earned from these investments to give grants to local nonprofits, schools, and projects that make our community stronger.
- Addressing Needs: Whether it’s supporting education, healthcare, the arts, or other vital areas, the foundation focuses on supporting both the immediate and long-term needs of our community and everyone in it.
- Building for the Future: By bringing financial resources together and investing them wisely, the community foundation ensures that we have the resources not just for today, but for the future, too. It’s about building a lasting legacy of support for generations to come.
Since every gift, no matter the size, is pooled and invested forever, the structure of a community foundation makes it possible for everyone to contribute to their community in a meaningful, lasting way.