Fall 2008
Commentary
Changing Roles, Changing Lives
By Holly Sampson
When community leader Frederick H. Goff took his vision of pooling the charitable capital of Cleveland's philanthropists into a permanent endowment, nobody could have imagined his role in defining community philanthropy. Created in 1914, the Cleveland Foundation was the first community foundation that distributed the interest from the trust's resources to fund "such charitable purposes as will best make for the mental, moral, and physical improvement of the inhabitants of Cleveland." Less than five years later, Minneapolis and other cities followed Goff's example by creating their own community foundations.
Nearly 100 years later, his vision has international impact. There are currently more than 700 community foundations in the United States and at least 1,175 community foundations in 46 countries worldwide. Community foundations are the fastest growing sector of philanthropy. Donors receive the highest tax benefits when contributing to community foundations because of their mission and impact on society.
How do we define ourselves?
I imagine if Goff was alive today, he would say these accomplishments far exceeded his expectations. But such accomplishments bring new challenges to overcome. In 2004, as members of the Community Foundation Leadership Team (CFLT) of the national Council on Foundations, my colleagues and I recognized this and began to proactively approach some of the potential challenges.
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| There are currently more than 700
community foundations in the United States and at least 1,175 community
foundations in 46 countries worldwide. |
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As our world diversifies, it is becoming increasingly difficult to define a community. In response, CFLT identified the need to define U.S. community foundations, their mission, structure and governance, resource development, stewardship and accountability, grantmaking and community leadership, and finally, donor relations. We hoped to be ahead of the curve, addressing potential problems and public scrutiny surrounding what defines a community foundation.
These new national standards lay the foundation to assure that the integrity and the initial need for community foundations remained intact. A community foundation is now clearly defined as a "tax-exempt, nonprofit, autonomous, publicly supported, non-sectarian philanthropic institution with a long-term goal of building permanent, named component funds established by many separate donors for the broad-based charitable benefit of the residents of a defined geographic area, typically no larger than a state."
This definition, along with clear standards of what nationally-recognized community foundations must achieve, assures we are healthy, sustainable and relevant to the needs of our communities and our donors in the future. Beyond that, it is our individual responsibility to take the national standards and put them into action.
Looking ahead
As we look forward, we must ask "How will we measure success?" In the past, we often looked to numbers. More funds, more endowment, more donors, and more grants and scholarships awarded to the community benchmarked our success rate.
Today, quantifiable growth in all of these assets remains fundamental to successful community foundations, but it is just one piece of the puzzle. We also need to step back and react to a much larger picture.
In On the Brink of New Promise: The Future of U.S. Community Foundations (PDF), Lucy Bernholz sums up the shifting fundamentals of community foundations. She states that our struggles and goals will vary, but ultimately we'll share a common mission of "mobilizing a community and its resources to recognize the community's collective aspirations, engage its own toughest challenges, and embrace its most inspiring opportunities."
This new way of thinking is what differentiates community foundations from other public and private foundations. Community foundations are no longer alone in what has become an increasingly competitive and crowded era of community philanthropy.
Bernholz found in her research that, while the overall purpose of community philanthropy — mutual assistance and shared responsibility — remains, the number of organizations providing these services is growing exponentially. She highlights the fiercest competitors, including federated giving, identity-based focus funds, alternative and community-based public foundations, giving circles, hometown associations and other remittance giving, healthcare conversion foundations and commercial charitable gift funds. While these organizations serve a distinct and unique role in community philanthropy, they do cause competition, which can ultimately cause tension within communities.
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| As leaders in our communities and in the
field of philanthropy, it is imperative community foundations move forward,
leading by example with powerful and positive impact on those we serve. |
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Community foundations must recognize that all of these organizations serve a distinct purpose. In order for community philanthropy to thrive, we must learn to collaborate with those we may have competed with in the past. As leaders in our communities and in the field of philanthropy, it is imperative community foundations move forward, leading by example with powerful and positive impact on those we serve.
This year marked a major milestone in moving the vision of community foundations forward. In May the Minnesota Council on Foundations convened all of the community philanthropy CEOs in the state. While that in itself speaks volumes about the collaborative progress we're making in Minnesota, the dialogue that took place marked a turning point in how willing, open and excited we are to accomplish goals larger than ourselves.
Take, for example, homelessness, an issue that impacts communities statewide. While each community foundation can tackle this individually, imagine the impact we could have by collaborating and sharing resources statewide. And imagine how we could have impact on public policy issues, public education campaigns and other statewide issues if we all worked together. May marked the first step in this journey and we're excited to see the outcomes of that dialogue.
We truly are the community catalysts who have the vision, the leadership and the resources to make an influential impact on the world around us. As we move into our second 100 years, we are going beyond providing grants. Instead, we are increasingly using our resources to provide leadership for our toughest challenges — something we can all be proud of together.
© Copyright 2008 Minnesota Council on Foundations
Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher
is prohibited.
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