What is a Community Foundation?
A community foundation is a collection of charitable funds established by individuals, families and organizations. Through a community foundation, donors are able to maximize charitable gifts during their lifetimes and to provide perpetual gifts through endowments. The funds established by donors provide grants for hundreds of diverse charitable organizations.
In legal terms, a community foundation is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) publicly supported foundation governed by its own board of directors and created to serve a specific geographical area. The first community foundation was created in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914. Today, there are more than 700 community foundations in the United States with assets of almost $45 billion.
A community foundation typically serves its community in three ways. It:
- Raises funds for charitable purposes,
- Makes grants to nonprofit organizations, and
- Acts as a catalyst to improve the quality of life in its community.
The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis
The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis was founded on September 23, 1969. Since then, we have awarded nearly $500 million in grants. Today, we have almost 1,000 funds with assets of about $290 million. In the past fiscal year we awarded more than $27 million in grants.