A community foundation can be defined simply as a grantmaking public charity dedicated to improving the lives of people in a defined local geographic. 

View the geographic service region of Innovia here.

Community foundations help local philanthropists of all income levels create or support permanent charitable funds that issue grants to the causes and organizations they love. 

Community foundations also play a key role in identifying and solving community problems. Through grantmaking, advocacy, research and civic leadership, community foundations leverage the resources in communities to address the most important issues and challenges.

• Established in 1974, Innovia has been in service for 48 years.
• Since its inception, Innovia has awarded over $115 million in grants and scholarships.
• The first community foundation was created in 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio, and operates now as the Cleveland Foundation.
• Currently, more than 750 community foundations operate in urban and rural areas in every state in the United States.
• Every continent but Antarctica has a community foundation. It’s estimated that there are at least 1,200 community foundations outside of the United States and Canada.
• According to the National Philanthropic Trust’s 2020 Donor-Advised Fund Report, grantmaking from DAFs to qualified charities totaled more than $25 billion in 2019, a 93 percent increase since 2015. 
• Nearly every type of gift, from cash to real estate, stock, and other assets, can be donated to a community foundation.
• Community Foundation Week, created in 1989 by former President George H.W. Bush, recognizes the important work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative and innovative approach to working with the public, private, and nonprofit sector