[Chapter 15, page 248]
Community Foundations
In lieu of additional text, we provide an annotated bibliography on community foundations:
The Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group. “Growing Local Philanthropy: The Role and Reach of Community Foundations.” Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group, 2005.
Findings from a survey of community foundations that sought information about the state of local philanthropy in rural areas and the growth of geographic component funds, fund within CFs that are committed to serving the communities of specific geographic areas.
Berger, Renee A. “Community Foundations Initiative on Management Assistance: Phase One Evaluation.”Los Altos, CA: David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 1999.
Berger, Renee A. “Community Foundations Initiative on Management Assistance: Phase Two Evaluation.”Los Altos, CA: David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 1999.
Through David and Lucile Packard Foundation Community Foundations Initiative on Management Assistance (CFI-MAP), the Packard Foundation aided eight Northern California CFs in needs assessment, project development, and project implementation. These reports are two of a three-part series that evaluates the dynamic of a private foundation supporting a CF’s strategy philanthropy.
Bernholz, Lucy et al. “On the Brink of a New Promise: The Future of U.S. Community
Foundations.” San Francisco: Blueprint Research & Design, 2005.
The authors encourage CFs and organizations that support them to question assumptions and to consider the new directions CFs may take. They maintain that, at the end of the “age of commercial charity” (1991-2005), CFs face economic pressures, demographic changes, and internal and external regulatory activity, and must consider a new measure of success based in community leadership and a new business model shaped by community philanthropy leaders.
The California Endowment. “Building Healthy Communities through Community Foundations.”Woodland Hills, CA: The California Endowment, September 2000.
The publication describes a partnership between the California Endowment and the League of California Community Foundations Goal. Its goal is to promote private and community foundation partnerships, in particular, collaborations between health care conversion foundations and groups of community foundations. Evaluation of the partnership found that peer review and focused technical assistance aided the growth of community foundations in different stages of development.
Carson, Emmett D. “Standing at the Crossroads.” Foundation News and Commentary,
January/February 2005.
Carson argues that CFs in the United States should take the “road less traveled” by striving to become a movement promoting social justice on the community level instead of a field focused on donor advised funds and asset development.
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. “Community Foundations: Building a New South Africa.” Flint, MI: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, 2000.
Although its focus is South Africa, this publication provides an explanation of the role of community foundation in building community philanthropy and facilitating community development, the stages involved in starting a CF, and characteristics of successful CFs. It also discusses indigenous practices of charitable giving and development needs at the local level in South Africa.
Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. “Annual Report 2002: Community Foundations: Growing Philanthropy Close to Home.” Pittsburgh: Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, 2002.
Focused on the Foundation’s grantmaking activity in West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania, the report offers an overview of the growth and affordability of CFs, diversity in arrangements of CFs, type of funds CFs manage, and good governance.
Columbus Foundation. 2006 Community Foundation Survey. Columbus, OH: Columbus
Foundation, 2006.
The Community Foundation Survey reports on gifts received, grants paid, and the market value of CFs and includes rankings of top 100 CFs in these categories.
deCourcy Hero, Peter and Peter Walkenhorst. Local Mission, Global Vision: Community Foundations in the 21st Century. New York: Foundation Center, forthcoming.
By their definition, CFs focus on local resources, donors, and grantees, but they must now consider global context of their philanthropy. The authors discuss the “potential impact of transnational evolution on organized philanthropy” and the impact of a “global vision” on writing a mission statement, building assets and communities, and strengthening civic leadership.
Gast, Elaine. Community Foundation Handbook: What You Need to Know. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 2006.
Compiled by the Council of Foundations, this series of papers covers annual reports, donor relations, grantmaking, financial administration, and strategic planning. The accompanying webpage, What You Need to Know, contains links to related resources.
Foundation Center. Foundation Giving Trends: Update on Funding Priorities. New York, NY: Foundation Center, 2008.
Examines 2006 grantmaking patterns of a sample of more than 1,000 larger US foundations and compares current giving priorities with trends from 1980. Includes special reports on CF support of post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts, international giving, and the role of small grants.
Foundation Center. Foundation Yearbook: Facts and Figures on Private and Community
Foundations. New York, NY: The Foundation Center, 2008.
Provides an overview of the state of foundation giving in 2007, compares foundation activities by foundation size, and breaks down foundation resources by geographic location and grantmaker type.
Foundation Strategy Group. “Strengthening Community Foundations: Redefining the Opportunities.” Boston: Foundation Strategy Group, 2003.
Three studies conducted in 2003 surveyed donors and financial advisors to asses their preferences of donor advised funds in terms of price and selected features. The studies found that six key factors affect the long-term sustainability of community foundations and that these factors can be controlled by foundation management.
James Irvine Foundation. “Eyes Wide Open: Deciding When to Launch a Community Initiative: A Tool for Community Foundations Based on Lessons from the Community Foundations Initiative.” San Francisco: James Irvine Foundation, 2003.
The James Irvine Foundation's Community Foundations Initiative (CFI) was a seven-year effort that supported seven California CFs in capacity building through the development and implementation of community initiatives. “Eyes Wide Open” shares the lessons that CFs learned by spearheading community initiatives. The report also provides guidelines for due diligence before starting a community initiative with a private foundation or a group of community members.
Magat, Richard, ed. An Agile Servant: Community Leadership by Community Foundations. New York, NY: The Foundation Center, 1989.
One of the first books on community foundations, this anthology provides a history of community foundations with particular emphasis on the leaders who established them. Subsequent chapters discuss growth rates, donor motivations, grantmaking choices, collaboration, and formal standards. Part II of the book 16 case studies of CF leadership.
Miller, Michael A. and Judith A. Kroll. 2006 Investment Performance and Practices of Community Foundations. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 2006.
Published annually and available as a book and a CD-ROM, this report describes the asset allocation and investment performance of 199 community foundations with assets of $5 million or more.
Ranghelli, Lisa et al. “Measuring Community Foundations’ Impact.” Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute, 2006.
Presented at the 2006 Community Foundation Colloquium for Practitioners and Researchers, these three papers by Lisa Ranghelli, Andrew Mott, and Elizabeth Banwell address the challenge of defining community foundation “success” beyond the metric of asset size.
Sera, Yumi and Dorothy Renolds. “World Bank Community Foundation Initiative Evaluation.” Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008.
An evaluation of the World Bank Community Foundation Initiative (CFI), a five-year effort to build internal knowledge of CFs within the World Bank and to seed CFs around the globe. Through CFI, CFs have been established at pilot sites in Tanzania, Kenya, and Thailand.
St. John, Shannon E. and Thomas H. Sandler. Building Philanthropic Social Capital: The Work of Community Foundations. Peter Walkenhorst. Gutersloh: Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers, 2002.
Discusses community foundations, minding the Bertelsmann Foundation’s three goals: “to enhance the management capacity and organizational effectiveness of foundations, to promote new philanthropy and to encourage cooperation between foundations, and to improve the legal framework for the establishment and activities of foundations.”
Transatlantic Community Foundation Network Academy. “The Future of Community Foundations.” Gutersloh: Bertelsmann Foundation, 2007.
With “On the Brink of New Promise” as its point of departure, TCFN Academy discusses CFs outside the U.S. and asks what they should be anticipating and exploring. The publication reports on the state of CFs in Canada, Mexico, and eight European countries and argues that the strategic conclusions of “On the Brink” were not developmentally appropriate for Canadian, Mexican, and European foundations.
World Bank. “Community Foundations: A Tool for Engaging Youth in Community Driven Development.” Social Development Notes: Community Driven Development, October 2007.
This brief report discusses CFs across the globe that host Youth Advisory Committees or Youth Banks, giving youth responsibility in identifying opportunities for engagement, grantmaking, implementation, and impact evaluation.