Community Foundation Insights

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History

Community foundations of all sizes can exert powerful leadership roles in their communities, strengthening the practice of philanthropy and increasing the effectiveness of the local nonprofit sector. Unfortunately, many foundations – both large and small – are constrained from playing the leadership role they would like because of the limitations of their economic model. It is these constraints that led FSG to explore ways to assist the community foundation field in improving foundation sustainability.

In 2003, FSG released a landmark white paper, Strengthening Community Foundations – Redefining the Opportunities. Commissioned by the Council on Foundations and released in October 2003, this white paper details the findings and the implications of our study of costs and revenues at nine community foundations. Offering a new perspective for community foundation sustainability, the paper proposes that foundations should examine their strategy and operations on a product-by-product basis, taking into account their mission-driven priorities, internal costs, customer preferences, and the competing donor alternatives for each type of product or service they offer.

In 2005, at the request of the Council on Foundations, FSG conducted a field-wide survey to understand whether CF Insights’ proposed services were needed. Approximately 250 foundations responded, representing a cross-section of the entire field. The survey found that financial issues were of immediate and critical importance to community foundations. The survey also determined that there was a widespread need for better information about costs, revenues and operating models.

The results of this survey convinced us that CF Insights would become an important and useful tool for the community foundation field. Wendy Horton came on as the Executive Director in November 2006. The Advisory Board and Wendy are working to raise $2 million to cover the costs of starting and operating CF Insights for the first four years. After 2010, CF Insights is expected to be self-sustaining.