Community foundations are tax-exempt public charities organized as collections of individual funds.

Individuals, families and organizations establish permanent charitable funds at community foundations for a variety of philanthropic reasons. These funds are intended for the long-term benefit of a specific geographic location, hence, “community” foundation.

Unique among charitable organizations, community foundations are experts on both sides of the philanthropic exchange, providing exceptional service to individual funds and developing deep knowledge of local communities and their needs.

In addition to facilitating their donors’ grantmaking, community foundations generally have their own grantmaking programs that focus on particular issues, a specific geographic region, or both. Click here to learn about the California Community Foundation’s grantmaking in Los Angeles County.

Community foundations are overseen by a volunteer board of local community leaders and run by professionals with expertise in the issues facing their community. There are currently more than 700 community foundations across the United States, with combined assets of about $35 billion.

About the California Community Foundation

The foundation has met the most rigorous standards in philanthropy and is in compliance with the National Standards of U.S. Community Foundations, administered by the Council on Foundations, a membership organization of more than 2,000 grantmaking foundations and giving programs worldwide. This affirms our commitment to financial security, transparency and accountability. Our grantmaking includes an open competitive, process designed to addrss our communities' changing needs. The seal also confirms our history of honoring donors' wishes — to ensure healthy, engaged and diverse communities.

Established in 1915, our mission is to strengthen Los Angeles communities through effective philanthropy and civic engagement. The California Community Foundation was formed as a charitable giving option within the trust department of Security Pacific Bank. For the next 65 years, the foundation, affectionately known as the "typewriter foundation,'' stayed relatively small, making small grants mostly for equipment and capital.

In the 1980s and '90s, the foundation grew tremendously under the leadership of Jack Shakely, from $20 million in assets in 1980 to $530 million in assets in 2000. Fueled by a strong stock market and escalating Southern California real estate, donors and their advisors increasingly used the foundation as a primary philanthropic vehicle.

Reflecting this growth, grants also grew during this time, and the foundation built a reputation of philanthropic entrepreneurship and risk-taking. In the 1990s, the foundation decided to move from broad and general grantmaking to a focus on specific issue areas.

In February 2004, Antonia Hernández became the foundation's president and chief executive officer. She brings extensive experience with community-based, advocacy and philanthropic institutions, together with a love for Los Angeles and a passion for inspiring pride of place in the philanthropic and nonprofit community.

Under her guidance, with her strong commitment to community leadership and dedication to Los Angeles, the foundation has created a long-range strategic plan that plots the course for future growth and success.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CCF awards grants and scholarships from many individual funds to nonprofit organizations and individuals in Los Angeles County and beyond. The foundation provides donors with a simple, convenient and flexible way to make a positive difference now and far into the future.

Learn about the foundation’s grantmaking in Los Angeles County.
Learn more about how to create a charitable fund at the foundation.

A few noteworthy moments in CCF history:

1946 — The foundation hired its first full-time staff member. Mary Bierce became the first woman foundation executive on the west coast.

1981 — The foundation created the Funding Information Center, which provides nonprofits with tools and assistance to seek grants from foundations near and far. In 1998, administration of the center was passed to the Center for Nonprofit Management, which renamed it the Nonprofit Resource Library.

1986 — When the AIDS epidemic began ravaging the Los Angeles community, we and our donors took the lead in addressing prevention, treatment and social services, funding vital programs that were deemed “too controversial” by government agencies.

1986 — After a fire blazed through the downtown Los Angeles Central Library, leaving 1.3 million books damaged by smoke and water, the foundation launched the $10 million Save the Books campaign.

1995 — After retiring from his post as Mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley joined our board of directors, adding his incomparable wealth of knowledge to the group that drives the policies of the foundation.

1997 — Peter Drucker names the California Community Foundation one of the 10 best-managed nonprofits in America.

2003 — The foundation was instrumental in the establishment of the Dr. Claudia Hampton Clinic, the only community clinic in Inglewood and the Centinela Valley, through a $1.6 million grant from the foundation’s Centinela Medical Community Fund. In the same year, the community foundation established the Southern California Wildfire Relief Fund. With the help of foundation donors and other concerned Angelenos, more than $1.2 million was awarded for long-term disaster relief and recovery efforts of communities devastated by wildfires that ultimately burned close to 750,000 acres.

2004 — After Antonia Hernández came on board in 2004, the foundation began a series of “Get to Know Us” meetings. These meetings introduced the foundation to a number of communities — communities based on geography, ethnicity and more — that were previously unaware of the foundation and its work.

2006 — The community foundation reaches $800 million in assets.

2008 – The foundation launched a new identity that reflects its role as a trusted steward of donor funds, grantmaker and convener for the public good. As the leading community foundation in Los Angeles for nearly a century, today, CCF pioneers new solutions for social problems and creates positive systemic change in L.A.