Community Foundations are nonprofit, tax-exempt, publicly-supported grantmaking organizations. These foundations are public charities, since they develop broad support from many unrelated donors with a wide range of charitable interests in a specific community. A community foundation has an independent board that is broadly representative of the public interest and it maintains a diverse grants program that is not limited in scope. In addition to making grants, these foundations often play a leadership role in their communities, serve as a resource for grant information and broker training and technical assistance for local nonprofits.


