Community Foundation of Louisville

Founded in 1984, the Community Foundation of Louisville mobilizes people, networks, and capital to spark meaningful change in and beyond Louisville. Just as our name signifies, here, community comes first. With nearly $800 million in assets, over 2,200 charitable funds, and collaborations with hundreds of local partners, we connect real investments with relevant causes. In addition, key priorities of the Foundation are to advance racial equity and open opportunity for all. Working with neighbors, changemakers, and community investors, we’re inspiring greater generosity to move us all forward.

Catalyze impact:
We believe everyone has the potential to drive change in their community. With broad investment expertise and deep local knowledge, we support community causes that advance equity and open opportunity for all.

Connect people to relevant causes:
We build bridges between changemakers and community causes to create real and lasting impact right here in Louisville. By connecting a wide range of resources and relationships, we can offer flexible options for community investors to contribute when and how they feel most comfortable —and to achieve meaningful progress.

Collaborate for transformation:
Through the mobilizing of thousands of funds and other grantmaking initiatives, we’re able to provide support and partnership to hundreds of local organizations and individuals that do the important work of amplifying impact in Louisville and beyond.

Champion community voices:
As a community foundation, we’re centered in, of, and for communities. We collaborate with and champion diverse perspectives, because Louisville can only move forward when every one of us has a pathway to prosperity.

We are a financial institution with a social mission.
At our core, the Community Foundation of Louisville is a financial institution that provides trustworthy and personalized service to help donors achieve their charitable goals.

We mobilize capital to address our community’s inequities – especially racial ones – by serving as a connector, convener, funder, and data analyst, developing innovative solutions that move us all forward.

Turning Generosity Into Impact
As a community foundation and 501(c)3, we’re centered in, of, and for communities. Through a long and proud history, we aim to be the most trusted source in philanthropy by strengthening our city, its neighborhoods, organizations, businesses, and people. We collaborate with and champion diverse perspectives, because Louisville can only move forward when every one of us has a pathway to prosperity.

Unlike traditional charitable foundations, the focus of our giving efforts is expansive, and that’s because it’s guided by our donors. We simply provide a vehicle for your philanthropy, offer information that empowers you to make informed decisions, and help facilitate the logistics of giving through grantmaking, scholarships, and other charitable funding programs.

Transforming Our Community
Combining responsible investments with real social impact, we work with local partners to advance racial equity and open opportunities for all. That’s why since 1984, together with our neighbors, community investors, and partners, we invest in ideas and approaches with the greatest potential to move us all forward.

In our first year, the Foundation had holdings of just over $1 million, and distributed $90,000 in grants to local charitable, educational, and civic organizations. Today, we manage nearly $800 million in assets in nearly 2,200 charitable funds. In 2022, we were incredibly proud to surpass $1.2 billion in total grants awarded.

For nearly 40 years, we’ve enabled thousands of nonprofits, entrepreneurs, businesses and individuals to prosper through our pivotal funding programs, including the Vogt Awards, financed by the Vogt Invention & Innovation Fund, and our groundbreaking loan program, CFL Impact Capital, to name just a few.

In 1995, we changed our name to the Community Foundation of Louisville, further building our enduring legacy of service. In 2014, we launched Give for Good Louisville, the single biggest day of online giving in our city’s history. Since it began, Give for Good has raised more than $50.6 million for hundreds of local nonprofits.

Amplifying and Advancing Opportunity for All
We believe that persistent challenges demand breakthrough solutions. We seek to create a fair, just, and inclusive society for all. By championing and collaborating with diverse voices and perspectives, our goal is to close divides and open opportunities for more people in more places.

In narrowing our focus on our capacity-building Fund for Louisville program in 2021, 12 exclusively Black-led social change organizations and individuals formed the Racial Justice Cohort. Together, they are navigating systems-level barriers to racial and social equity. This initiative is intended to serve as a model of accessible, inclusive, and transparent grantmaking practices to move toward real social change.

Today, we are actively committed to sharing decision-making, eliminating barriers, and making equity a cornerstone of everything we do. This includes addressing the role of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, immigration status, and other characteristics used to limit peoples’ opportunities in our community. Through your generosity, we can invest in a Louisville where everyone can prosper.

Apply to our Sparking Change Mini-Grants
Supported by the Foundation’s Action Areas, the Community Foundation of Louisville awards three $1,000 grants each month to organizations whose operating budgets are under $250,000.

Donors
Do you have a passion for community causes? Do you want to maximize tax savings and other financial benefits of your charitable contributions? Do you prefer to be spontaneous with your giving, or do you need a long-term plan? No matter your charitable goals, we’re committed to helping you amplify impact and elevate causes that matter to you in and beyond Louisville.

Simplify Your Giving
When you collaborate with the Community Foundation of Louisville, you’ll have access to a dedicated team of experts that is committed to helping you achieve meaningful and measurable progress on the causes that matter most to you. Together, we can help you:

– Simplify how or where you give
– Create a new giving account
– Optimize your planned giving

Lead a legacy of generosity through multi-generational philanthropy
We offer philanthropy solutions that are flexible, innovative, and personalized. Through your generosity – and all that it inspires – we will invest the in the change you want to see through the perfect charitable giving plan for you.

CONTACT Community Foundation of Louisville:

Community Foundation of Louisville
325 W. Main Street, Suite 1110
Waterfront Plaza, West Tower
Louisville, KY 40202