How does the Community Foundation differ from other nonprofit organizations?
Most nonprofit organizations have a specific mission. By contrast, a community foundations mission is very broad: to improve the quality of life in a given area. This breadth of mission reflects our ability to make grants in any field of interest with a charitable benefit to local communities. This flexibility allows us to serve a wider group of potential donors on the one hand and, on the other, a wider group of nonprofit organizations whom we consider our partners in improving local communities. Area nonprofits benefit from having a local community foundation because the community foundation helps money stay in a community. Community foundations benefit local nonprofits in other ways, too: besides having local grant money available, some nonprofits ask the community foundation to manage an endowment on their own behalf. As it grows, a community foundation gradually becomes the center for all charitable giving in a community. We help make connections between the people who want to giv
