Community foundation
A public charity that pools gifts from many donors to fund work in a defined geography. It is usually the most approachable grantmaker in a region and the one most likely to publish an open application process.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called Place-based foundation
In detail
Much of its money sits in donor-advised funds, where the donor recommends the grants. The foundation’s own competitive programmes are frequently a minority of what it moves in a year, which is why its total giving figure overstates what is open to apply for.
Geography is the binding constraint. A community foundation’s eligibility is defined by where the work happens more than by what it is, which makes it a natural fit for the state and locality dimension of a search.
Against a private foundation
A community foundation is a public charity with many donors; a private foundation has one source. That difference decides which filing it makes, which is why `data_source` on a funder record matters: a 990 and a 990-PF are different documents with different fields, and the record says which one a figure came from.
How GrantTrove stores it
- `geography` and `focus_areas` on a funder record hold what the source published about where and what it funds.
- Giving figures carry `data_year`, `data_source` and `fiscal_year`, so a figure is never separated from the year and the filing it came from.
Common questions
Is total giving what I can apply for?
No, and this is the trap. Much of it is donor-advised and never competed.
Do they fund outside their region?
Rarely. Geography is usually the hard constraint.
Which filing do they make?
A 990, as a public charity. The record’s `data_source` says which document a figure came from.