21st-Century Community Foundations Discussion Guide for Thoughtful Funder Reflection

These questions pertain to GrantCraft's "Leadership Series" paper, 21st-Century Community Foundations: A Question of Geography and Identity. Read the guide independently. Then, together with your team, dive into the questions below.

Questions to Spark Discussion

1. What does “community” mean to you? To your community foundation? To other stakeholders of your foundation?
2. Do you see solutions to and/or initiatives for the issues that your community foundation is  trying to influence outside of your geographic scope? How might investment in these programs strengthen your foundation’s work? What challenges might it present?
3. What trends have you observed in your communities with regard to donor intent around issues of perpetual endowment versus spend down?
4. What challenges in financial sustainability does your community foundation face? What are some possible ways to address these challenges by rethinking approach and organizational brand identity?
5. What does your community foundation offer to donors that they may not find by investing their  resources elsewhere?
6. For non-community foundations, how might a changing strategy for locally-based community foundations impact your work?