Foundations

A foundation is a non-governmental entity that is established as a nonprofit corporation or a charitable trust, with a principal purpose of making grants to unrelated organizations, institutions, or individuals for scientific, educational, cultural, religious, or other charitable purposes. This broad definition encompasses two foundation types: private foundations and grantmaking public charities.

A private foundation derives its money from a family, an individual, or a corporation.  In contrast, a grantmaking public charity (sometimes referred to as a "public foundation") derives its support from diverse sources, which may include foundations, individuals, and government agencies.

 Community  foundations are tax-exempt public charities serving thousands of people who share a common interest—improving the quality of life in their area.  Individuals, families, businesses, and organizations create permanent charitable funds that help their region meet the challenges of changing times. The foundation invests and administers these funds.  All community foundations are overseen by a volunteer board of leading citizens and run by professionals with expertise in identifying their communities’ needs.

GrantedGE initiated operations with Community Foundations, and this comprises the largest segment of our client base including:

  • Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) traces its roots back to 1953. Since that year, more than $1 billion in grants have been made by the Dallas-based foundation.  It has grown along with North Texas to become one of the largest community foundations in the nation.  CFT was the pioneering foundation that originally installed GrantedGE in 2004.
  • Tulsa Community Foundation is a tax-exempt, public charity organized in 1998 to be the recognized, community-owned organization that initiates, teaches and encourages personal and corporate charitable giving today to ensure that the philanthropic needsof Oklahomans can be met for all generations.  Tulsa Community Foundation is the largest community foundation in America.

 Private foundations form the newest segment of the GrantedGE community including:

  • Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors helps donors create thoughtful, effective philanthropy throughout the world.  Originally developed as the private philanthropy service of the Rockefeller family, we are now an independent, nonprofit service that represents the cumulative knowledge and experience of more than a century of high-quality professional service to America’s most philanthropic family.  Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors is one of the world’s largest philanthropy services with a full-time staff of 40 in our New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices and a network of carefully chosen affiliates and partner organizations worldwide.