Energy, Ideas and Renewed Conviction – A Spontaneous Reflection After the 4th Meeting of Community Foundations in Spain
The 2025 Spanish Community Foundations Meeting in Madrid brought together foundations, universities, support organisations and international guests to exchange ideas, strengthen networks and celebrate impact. Over two days of dialogue, reflection and workshops, participants reaffirmed the growing movement in Spain, highlighted the power of collective intelligence, and welcomed the launch of the country’s tenth community foundation —the first in Madrid, the Hortaleza Filanda Community Foundation.
Community Foundations in Ukraine: Resilience in Times of War
Despite the ongoing war, Ukrainian community foundations continue to play a crucial role in supporting local populations, adapting to new
challenges, and fostering resilience. Viktoriia Zablotska from the National Network of Local Philanthropy Development shares insights into their efforts, highlighting the experiences of three foundations operating under extreme conditions.
Local Philanthropy and Community Foundations in European Capital Cities. Challenges and opportunities.
This report explores the challenges and opportunities faced by community foundations in European capital cities, focusing on local development and philanthropy. Drawing on case examples and wider experience brought by participants, it underscores key learnings related to scalability, meaningful partnerships, and social innovation. The exploration of a variety of locally oriented approaches aims to contribute to the promotion of sustainable urban development.
Guide to Italian Community Foundations 2nd Edition 2023 ABSTRACT
This abstract introduces the second edition of the Guide to Italian Community Foundations (2023), presenting an overview of the field’s development, scale and diversity. It highlights how community foundations operate across different regional contexts, fulfil varied roles and contribute to addressing social challenges. The guide combines data, practitioner insights and external perspectives to illustrate the added value of community foundations and the importance of networking and support infrastructure in strengthening the movement.
Guide to Community Foundations in Serbia
This guide presents the development of community foundations in Serbia and the social, political and economic context in which they operate. It explains Trag Foundation’s movement-building approach and profiles community foundations in Niš, Stara Pazova and Pančevo, highlighting their fundraising, grantmaking, inclusion and community leadership practices. The publication also offers practical recommendations on early grantmaking, matching funds, registration, locally adapted fundraising and peer learning.
First community foundation in Andalusia
This blog introduces Fundación Almería Tierra Abierta, the first community foundation established in Andalusia. Created by more than 45 founders from business, civil society and other local institutions, the foundation aims to address the province’s social sustainability challenges, particularly the living conditions of migrant workers. The article highlights the importance of broad local participation, diverse governance and long-term support from the Spanish Association of Foundations in developing the initiative.
The SDGs Are Good For Us
This workshop report explores how community foundations and their support organisations can use the Sustainable Development Goals as a strategic framework. It presents Northamptonshire Community Foundation’s experience of embedding the SDGs across its vision, strategy, donor engagement, partnerships, community conversations and impact reporting. The report also examines effective partnership models and identifies practical roles for support organisations in building capability, sharing evidence and helping community foundations connect local action with global goals.
The New Italian Kid on the Block
This blog introduces Fondazione Comunità di Benevento, the ninth community foundation established in southern Italy. Through an interview with its chairman, it traces how cooperation around disability support, flood response and social capital led to the foundation’s creation. The article also explains its participatory governance model and its ambition to strengthen community welfare, civic engagement and inclusive local development, with current priorities including health poverty, education, climate action and the circular economy.
Safeguarding Principles and Community Foundations
This report explores how safeguarding principles can be embedded in the work of community foundations and their support organisations. It outlines what safeguarding means in practice, why it is essential for responsible and high-quality work, and how organisations can develop and implement policies. Drawing on examples from the UK and Serbia, it highlights safeguarding as an organisational development process that strengthens trust, accountability, and ethical standards while protecting beneficiaries, staff, and partners.
From inside Ukraine
This blog offers a first-hand account of how Ukrainian community foundations responded during the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion. It describes their rapid mobilisation to support civilians, displaced people, volunteers, hospitals and local defence efforts, while maintaining social cohesion and community resilience. The article also highlights the coordinating role of the National Network for the Development of Local Philanthropy and presents practical examples of humanitarian, cultural, medical and housing initiatives.
