Community Foundation Atlas The most comprehensive dataset on community foundations

Community Foundation Atlas is the most comprehensive directory of the world's community foundation movement. The online platform, available at CommunityFoundationAtlas.org, maps the identities, locations, assets, roles and achievements of place-based philanthropies around the world. The tool gives profiles of community foundations, facts and inforgraphics on the growth of the sector, and stories that highlight the movement's global impact.

The Community Foundation Atlas offers a variety of entry points to further understand the reach and influence of community foundations, including:

  • Organization directory: This alphabetical listing is the portal to profile pages for 1,827 community foundations and community philanthropies. Visitors to the site can select individual organizations to review or filter by geographic region or country of particular interest. A built-in editing function enables foundations to easily update their profiles.
  • Data snapshots: A series of quick facts, deeper-dive infographics and a comprehensive, downloadable analysis present the Atlas's baseline data in accessible form. The infographics are programmed to change in real time as organizational profiles are updated.
  • First-person accounts: Foundations describe in their own words the "most meaningful change" brought about in recent years as a result of their support or initiative. Considered in their entirety, these unrehearsed accounts show how place-based foundations are helping to advance their communities' aspirations, large and small.
  • Stories of struggle and success: From the prosperous cities of Canada to the culturally rich matriarchal villages of rural India come 50 narratives chosen to convey the wide-ranging influence of the global community foundation movement. "Adding to Knowledge," "Encouraging Innovation" and "Stimulating Policy and Systems Reform" are among the highlighted arenas of endeavor.

The international research effort was led by the Cleveland Foundation in partnership with Foundation Center, the Global Fund for Community Foundations, WINGS, the Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support, and CENTRIS, the Centre for Research and Innovation in Social Policy and Practice. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a private American philanthropy headquartered in Flint, Michigan, and longstanding supporter of community foundations worldwide, funded the project.

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