Community foundations are instruments of civil society designed to pool donations into a coordinated investment and grant making facility dedicated primarily to the social improvement of a given place.

Families, individuals, businesses, and nonprofit groups establish funds within community foundations into which they can contribute a variety of assets to be used for charitable purposes. The people or organizations that establish the funds can then recommend that grants be distributed, in the name of the fund or anonymously, to qualified nonprofit groups and schools. The donor receives a charitable deduction in the year that gifts are made into their funds.

The assets of community foundations are pooled and invested, with donors typically having a choice of investment products.

The funds established at community foundations can be expendable funds (i.e., grants can be made in any amount at any time) or they can be endowments, which limit distributions to the interest earned on the assets. Endowments last in perpetuity.

The first community foundation was set up in Cleveland in 1914 by Frederick Goff and
operating now as the Cleveland Foundation. Others soon followed including the California Community Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust.

Community foundations are now a global phenomenon. There are at least 700 in the United States and perhaps 1000 more around the world with numbers growing rapidly.

The above definition is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_foundation

The following is a list of community foundations in Alaska:

Alaska Conservation Foundation
441 W. Fifth Avenue, Suite 402
Anchorage, AK 99501-2340
Phone: 907-276-1917 Fax: 907-274-4145
Contact: Nick Hardigg, Executive Director
Email: nhardigg@akcf.org     For general information email: tadair@akcf.org
Website: http://alaskaconservation.org/

Juneau Community Foundation
350 N Franklin St., Suite 2
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: 907/463-3223
Website: www.juneaucf.org

The Homer Foundation
P.O. Box 2600
Homer, AK 99603-2600
Phone: 907- 235-0541 Fax: 907- 235-0542
Contact: Joy Steward, Executive Director
Website: http://www.homerfund.org