One Model, Many Contexts
Why Community Foundations Matter in a Changing World
By Denise Charlton.
Community foundations share a model built on generosity, local knowledge and long-term commitment. As leaders from Europe, North America and beyond gather in Dublin (25th-27th August 2026), we have an opportunity to consider how that model can continue to evolve, mobilise strategic philanthropy and help communities shape their own futures.
Relevant in a Complex World
More than a century has passed since the first community foundation was established in Cleveland, Ohio. Today, more than 1,800 community foundations work across countries, communities and contexts. That footprint a testament to the relevance of the model in a complex and rapidly changing world.
At its heart, the idea is remarkably simple. A bringing together of generosity, local knowledge and long-term commitment to advance equality.
Geography, culture and history influence how each foundation works, but a common conviction connects us: when local people are trusted, supported and properly resourced, they are best placed to help shape their future.
Building trust
Communities are under pressure. Conflict, climate disruption and persistent inequality with economic uncertainty and rapid technological development are ever present.
This change and complexity require a thoughtful philanthropic response.
Community foundations cannot resolve every challenge. We can, however, help create the conditions for positive, strategic, impactful actions.
We can connect donors with community knowledge. We can support organisations for the long term, not simply through moments of crisis. We can convene voices that might not otherwise encounter one another. We can provide space for learning. We can also support new thinking, take appropriate risks and invest in the social infrastructure that enables communities to flourish.
From generosity to lasting impact
Change is not just being experienced in communities; philanthropy is itself evolving.
Donors want to respond to immediate needs while also seeking to understand the underlying causes of inequality and to invest in longer-term solutions. They seek deeper engagement, clearer evidence of impact and stronger relationships with causes they support.
At Community Foundation Ireland, our strategy commits us to mobilising strategic philanthropy to advance equality, strengthen communities and protect climate and nature. These are distinct priorities, but they are deeply connected.
Communities cannot flourish without equality. Equality cannot be sustained without participation and strong civic life. Neither can endure unless we protect the natural environment on which current and future generations depend.
This also influences how we understand impact.
Resources distributed and grants awarded remain important measures, but for us success also means fairer opportunities, healthier environments, stronger participation and better-connected communities.
Building community wealth
Community foundations were never simply distributors of resources. We are builders and stewards of community wealth. Endowments, donor funds, community funds and other forms of philanthropic capital create assets rooted in place and intended to endure.
This long-term perspective is a great strength, allowing communities to respond to present needs while also investing in the future.
Growing philanthropy is therefore not separate from our social mission. It is essential to it.
Our impact will always be constrained unless we continue to inspire generosity, attract new donors and strengthen a culture of giving.
We must look towards forms of giving which offer future potential. These include legacy giving, impact investing, blended finance, community wealth-building and ways of unlocking dormant or underused assets.
All community foundations have responsibility to steward the resources entrusted to us. That means cultivating new generations of donors, building permanent community assets, remaining open to innovation and ensuring that philanthropy strengthens trust, participation and belonging.
Learning across borders
No single foundation, country or community has all the answers.
A willingness to learn from one another is our strengths.
At Community Foundation Ireland we enjoy the benefit of thoughtful and beneficial international relationships.
In our early years, participation in the Transatlantic Community Foundation Network reinforced for us the importance of building endowed assets, establishing a principle that continues to shape our work.
The experience of our nearest neighbours has also proved helpful. Foundation Scotland’s leadership in Community Benefit Funds contributing to our thinking on building community assets for long-term social impact.
Community Foundation Northern Ireland offers internationally recognised experience of how philanthropy can contribute to peacebuilding and reconciliation. Our partnership on all-island philanthropy and grant-making also shows how community foundations can work across jurisdictions in response to shared opportunities and challenges.
Our relationships with North American community foundations support diaspora philanthropy.
The learning travels in both directions. By sharing what has worked, what has not and what questions remain unanswered, we strengthen the movement collectively.
Confidence in communities
The challenges facing communities are significant, but so too are their knowledge, resilience and imagination.
The role of a community foundation is not to arrive with every answer. It is to help unlock the generosity, ideas, relationships and resources that already exist, and to ensure communities have a meaningful role in shaping the decisions and investments that affect their futures.
That is why gatherings such as the Community Foundation Leadership Summit matter. They allow us to move beyond the exchange of good practice and consider what community leadership requires.
The pressures we face may be global, but many of the most enduring responses begin locally.
All of us connected to the community foundation movement have a responsibility to continue to work with our communities, offering ambition, courage and leadership to all seeking lasting change.
One model. Many contexts. And a shared commitment to helping communities build stronger futures.
Denise Charlton is Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland.
Community Foundation Ireland
Community Foundation Ireland mobilises strategic philanthropy to advance equality, strengthen communities and protect climate and nature. A philanthropic hub our priority pillars are people, place and planet. People helps ensure everyone can live with dignity, feel part of their community and wider society. Place means working with partners to support communities where everyone participates. Planet is our response to the crisis in climate and nature at every level. The Foundation was established in 2000.