Community Foundation Tops National Survey for Grantmaking, Pace of Growth
A recent national survey ranked Indian River Community Foundation as the fourth most active grantmaker among all US community foundations, distributing 27% of its assets in calendar year 2016. The Columbus Survey, known as the census of the community foundation field, is administered by CF Insights and reports financial trends and operational activity among community foundations in the United States.
“Since most of the Community Foundation’s grants are awarded from donor advised funds, these statistics really demonstrate the generosity of our clients,” said Jeff Pickering, President and CEO. “The Community Foundation is a vehicle for helping generous local individuals and families to simplify their donations and give to the causes they love through these charitable giving accounts, so they really deserve all of the credit.”
Another important indicator of the Community Foundation’s continued growth and progress is a 24 percent growth in assets over the previous fiscal year, and 23 percent overall for the last three years. According to the Columbus Survey, the median change in net assets among all U.S. community foundations last year equaled just over 5 percent, and 20 percent for the last three years.
“Almost half of all U.S. community foundations hold assets of less than $50 million,” said Pickering. “While many of these organizations have been around for 20 years or more, our Community Foundation is well on the way to crossing that threshold as we enter our 10th year of operation. I can’t say exactly when we’ll hit that mark, but based on activity in this month alone, this is going to be another great fiscal year for the Community Foundation and for local philanthropy.”