Council on Foundations

Member services - the Council ensures that Foundations are connected to high-quality services across a broad range of needs. To this end, the Council has become both a developer and go-to source for educational expertise and networking opportunities related to core field-wide issues (e.g., educational expertise that supports the field's ability to achieve standards of strong governance and effectiveness in grantmakers). Additionally, the Council seeks opportunities to partner with the broader network of philanthropic infrastructure organizations to co-create and deliver high-quality, co-branded educational offerings.

Strategic communications - increase outreach and communications to members, infrastructure partners, the field, and the media through multiple high-impact communications platforms. The Council capitalizes on 21st century trends of networking and knowledge management, incorporating innovative uses of technology. This ensures Foundations are connected to one another (for peer-to-peer learning) and to expert content to address their most pressing needs.

Public policy - the Council is the leading advocacy organization promoting a positive vision for philanthropy, making philanthropy consequential, and conveying to influential public leaders and policy makers a compelling, clear agenda and case for enabling philanthropy. The Council strives to ensure a positive legislative and regulatory environment for philanthropy, as well as highlight for lawmakers the critical work being done by Foundations in communities across the country. These efforts entail advancing public policies on key issues, including tax policy. With respect to our advocacy efforts, any activities that meet the definition of lobbying are reported on supplemental schedule c.