Community foundations support charitable activities focused primarily on local needs--those of a particular town, county or state. They are designated "public charities" rather than "private foundations" by the IRS because they raise a significant portion of their resources from a broad cross-section of the public each year. Community foundations provide an array of services to donors who wish to establish endowed funds without incurring the administrative and legal costs of starting private foundations. There are more than 500 community foundations across the United States today. The Cleveland Foundation is the oldest; the New York Community Trust is the largest.

--From the Council on Foundations.