What is a Community Foundation?
- We connect people to the causes they care about.
We engage and mobilize donors as participants and leaders in community problem solving, helping donors to share not just their money, but also their knowledge, expertise, and networks. - We support nonprofits through grants and training.
We will offer competitive grant opportunities using unrestricted or field-of-interest funds, in addition to managing donor advised funds. We help amplify marketing and advocacy of the sector as a whole, and can provide investment services for endowment funds. - We enhance community capacity.
We act as valuable partners that drive positive change. We grow and link local leadership, maximize access to public and private resources, and advocate and partner for solutions. - We help build useful knowledge.
We have both first hand contact with community issues and access to information, ideas, and approaches outside our region. We can spot trends, surface issues, provide analysis, and serve as hubs for community information. - We grow charitable resources for lasting impact.
We invest donations wisely and distribute earnings over time, increasing the dollars available to support community priorities—now and for future generations—always honoring the intent of our donors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our foundation will be a resource and partner to people and organizations investing in the culture, land and community of Nevada County. As we grow, we will offer a suite of services as outlined in our mission, values and impact statements, and aligned with our purpose and capacity.
Where there are high expectations for the Foundation to be many things to many people, and given our ambitions, this is how we will focus our efforts:
The Board will work diligently to plan a sustainable path for the Foundation’s growth. We are in the process of establishing a set of community priorities, and have identified five core functional lines of business (see org chart) Once we are hire a full time CEO, we will work with them to map out a growth plan for the future.
We are aiming to raise 3 years of operating expenses in order to hire our first CEO, who will work hand in hand with the Board to identify and amplify opportunities that contribute to the health and well-being of our region. In the meantime, Cristine Kelly will step in as part-time Interim CEO to drive the startup phase. This will include:
Set up processes, policies and procedures for this particular phase of the CoFo’s lifecycle
- Manage and activate the startup fund efforts with the Development Committee
- Manage and activate the communications rollout
- Represent the Foundation to the community, engaging gov’t, nonprofits et al to introduce the Foundation to the public through forums, meetings, etc.
- Set up processes, policies and procedures for this particular phase of the CoFo’s lifecycle
One of our key strengths and assets is our visionary Board, which is both representative and committed to the community we serve. Over the past two years, the Board, and the Steering Committee before it, have interviewed numerous stakeholders, including the region’s nonprofits. We will continue to prioritize the input of the community in a series of listening sessions beginning in the fall of 2023.
COFONC helps donors use all types of liquid and illiquid assets as charitable contributions, including cash, stocks, and securities, IRA or other retirement funds, real estate, life insurance products, and high value personal property. COFONC also accepts bequests and deferred gifts from an estate. COFONC staff will work with you to determine the type of fund that fits your needs, you sign a fund agreement, and COFONC assists in the transfer of assets to your new charitable fund. Visit our Ways to Give page to learn more about creating funds at COFONC.
Most nonprofit organizations have a specific mission. By contrast, a community foundation’s mission is broad: to improve the quality of life in a given area. This flexibility allows us to serve a wider group of potential donors on the one hand and, on the other, a wider group of nonprofit organizations whom we consider our partners in improving our local community.
Area nonprofits benefit from having a local community foundation because the community foundation helps money stay in the community. Community foundations benefit local nonprofits in other ways, too: besides having local grant money available, some nonprofits ask the community foundation to manage an endowment on their own behalf. We call such funds agency endowment funds. As it grows, a community foundation gradually becomes a center for charitable giving in a community. We help make connections between the people who want to give and the people who need their support.
Currently, the Foundation is establishing relationships with the nonprofit community, and City and County governments, as well as a group of philanthropic individuals who are interested in its establishment. We have a modest website, and with the hiring of an Interim CEO, will be creating and implementing a communications plan for rollout, which will include social media.
We are partners with the County to execute upon our mission. The Exec Team is working on building a Scope of Work with the County which will launch our first project- the administration of the Nevada County Relief Fund. It is our intention to have those funds support hiring staff.
Through the Center for Nonprofit Leadership, a program of the Community Foundation, we provide education, collaboration, and advocacy, connecting nonprofit leaders and amplifying their voices as part of a larger public/private ecosystem. We also provide access to philanthropic funding sources such as donor-advised funds, investment services for endowments, legacy funds, and larger grants. For nonprofit projects without 501(c)(3) designation, we offer fiscal sponsorship services, including financial management, fiduciary oversight, and tax-exempt status, making their causes more attractive to donors.
Advocacy: Amplify the voices of local nonprofits, raising awareness about critical community issues and position nonprofits as part of a larger public/private ecosystem.
We receive and manage funds in several different ways. Funds are invested and earnings are dispersed in accordance with the donor’s wishes and the advice of the Community Foundation investment committee. This allows us to multiply those dollars for the good of the community. We charge a fee to invest the funds, which pays for our administrative overhead.
COFONC helps donors use all types of liquid and illiquid assets as charitable contributions, including cash, stocks and securities, IRA or other retirement funds, real estate, life insurance products, and high value personal property. COFONC also accepts bequests and deferred gifts from an estate. COFONC staff will work with you to determine the type of fund that fits your needs, you sign a fund agreement, and COFONC assists in the transfer of assets to your new charitable fund. Visit our Ways to Give page to learn more about creating funds at COFONC.