What is a Community Foundation?

A community foundation is an independent, tax-exempt, public charity created by and for the people in a local area—in our case, Monterey County.

Community foundations enable institutions and individuals with philanthropic interests to easily and effectively support the issues they care about—immediately, or through endowments and planned gifts.

Through visionary, diverse, and inclusive philanthropy, community foundations have become catalysts for significant community change.

Community foundations do this by helping individuals, families and businesses establish charitable funds to which they may contribute a variety of assets. Nearly every type of asset—including cash, real estate, stock, and artwork—can be contributed to a community foundation. Grants are then made from these funds to nonprofit groups in order to meet the charitable goals of the donor.

Community foundations have in-depth knowledge of their communities and remain alert to emerging needs in order to respond quickly and effectively. We convene groups—including donors, nonprofit leaders, and elected officials—to work together on community problem-solving. And we foster greater giving and volunteering in our communities.

The first community foundation was started in 1914, and there are now more than 700 throughout the United States serving tens of thousands of donors, and administering more than $31 billion in charitable funds. They are addressing the core concerns of their communities and regions by supporting the arts, education, health, human services, the environment, disaster relief and more.

Currently, 570 Community Foundations belong to the Council on Foundations. More than 425 community foundations in the United States, including the Community Foundation for Monterey County, earned the National Standards Seal from the Council on Foundations for attaining the highest standards for grantmaking integrity and accountability.

The community foundation model has also taken hold across the world, from the Americas to Europe to Australia, and is expanding rapidly across Africa. The Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support estimates that 1,175 community foundations work in 46 countries, with many more forming around the world.

Just like our colleagues in the United States and abroad, we are “Here for Good.”