Updates and Resources
Preparing for Community Foundation Week 2026
Community Foundation Week (November 12-18) is right around the corner! To help you celebrate and share your foundation's story, the Council is developing a series of resources to help with outreach and awareness. This first look at resources includes two social media toolkits, one for Community Foundation Week and one specifically for National Philanthropy Day.
Throughout the week we'll also be sharing community foundation stories on generositybuilds.org! Stay tuned for more!
Annual Member Meeting & Proxy Vote
Join us for our Annual Member Meeting as we wrap up the year and celebrate your contributions to our community.
You'll hear a "State of the Council" address from our President and CEO Kathleen Enright, a conversation with outgoing Council Board Chair Jay Williams, and reports on our financials and membership milestones. We'll also vote to approve the nominations of new members for the Board of Directors. Only Council member organizations are eligible to vote, but all are welcome to attend the meeting, including Council nonmembers.
Legal Question of the Month With Senior Staff Counsel Remy Barnwell
Question: Can a community foundation grant to a 501c4 for charitable purposes without exercising expenditure responsibility?
Answer: You most certainly can make grants to 501(c)(4) organizations without exercising expenditure responsibility, as long as the distribution is not coming from a DAF. In lieu of expenditure responsibility, we suggest exercising due diligence—which you can think of as “diet” expenditure responsibility.
Some community foundations use the same process for due diligence as they do for expenditure responsibility, but essentially you want a clear agreement with the grantee organization beforehand. This agreement should specify the purpose of the grant and establish that the community foundation will receive follow up and final financial reporting from the grantee.
Council members are able to send their questions to our legal team for expert advice and analysis.You can take advantage of this member benefit by becoming a member today.
CF Insights Highlight
On November 17, join two leaders from the Orange County Community Foundation as they share how they’ve recently adapted their finance and operations functions for current and future success, and explore how other future-looking community foundations can do the same in this interactive, roundtable session for Council members with the CF Insights Add-On.
As community foundations navigate an increasingly complex and evolving landscape, the finance and operations function plays a critical role in organizational sustainability, strategic decision-making and being able to successfully support communities for the long-term. Beyond managing financial resources and day-to-day operations, these functions must anticipate emerging challenges, leverage data and technology, and help position the foundation to achieve its mission.
Tammy Tumbling, president, and Brian Schaefgen, CFO from the Orange County Community Foundation, will be on hand for a peer roundtable discussion to share their experience of redesigning their finance and operations functions to meet the evolving needs of their organization, and of the broader community.
Interested in learning more about the CF Insights Add-On? Visit our website or email cfinsights@cof.org for a 1:1 demo.
2026 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Report
The 2026 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Report is live! Download the full report for free and access our key findings that highlight the latest trends in the field, such as salary increases returning to pre-pandemic norms and turnover dropping to its lowest level in at least five years.
We also released new Board Compensation Tables, which will help your foundation board members and staff benchmark board compensation policies and practices against peers in the field.
2027 Council Awards - Deadline extended!
Submit your nominations for the Council awards by 5 p.m. ET tomorrow, Friday, October 23! Council members are invited to nominate for our flagship awards — the Distinguished Service Award for an outstanding leader or the Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking. While only Council members may submit nominations, nominees and winners do not need to be members of the Council. Nominations are due tomorrow.
Storytelling and Narrative Strategy Survey
As part of our Better Stories, Better Language portfolio, we’re partnering with the Center of Public Interest Communications (CPIC) at the University of Florida on a new, quick survey to help us gauge the sector’s approach to storytelling and narrative strategy. If you’re a communications professional, we’d love to have you participate!
Your insights will help shape our forthcoming follow-up report to Philanthropy’s New Voice, the largest ever study of narratives in philanthropy. To learn more about the report and this work, check out our highlights and resources from our session at ComNet 2026.
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