Simply, community foundations are a funder of local nonprofits. Community foundations do not provide services, but they help the organizations that do, to be able to do it better. Community foundations identify needs in the local community and provide financial and other support to nonprofits to fill those needs.

Most nonprofit organizations have a very specific mission, whereas the mission of community foundations is very broad: to connect people with causes they care about to better their community. The breadth of the mission allows community foundations to serve a wide group of people and organizations, and reflects the ability to make grants in any field of interest with a charitable benefit to the local communities.