LCCF Members from left to right: John Kobara, California Community Foundation; Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County; Lance Linares, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County; Veronica Blake, Placer Community Foundation; Hugh Ralston, Fresno Regional Foundation; James Head, East Bay Community Foundation.

Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation Blog

Posted by Jonathan Greenblatt on December 2, 2014 at 10:35 AM EST

America has led the world in developing a national culture of civic participation, but one of the most enduring institutions that we created has been the community foundation. Today, President Obama is proud to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the community foundation with a convening here at the White House, where we welcomed more than 100 leaders from this field. Together, we commemorated a century of achievement by community foundations and looked forward to the possibilities that lie ahead.

In collaboration with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, we hosted Community Foundations: Vital Leadership for America’s Future, a session to celebrate the extraordinary contributions that these institutions have made to our country. The first community foundation was created in 1914 when Frederick Goff created The Cleveland Foundation to facilitate charitable giving by residents to organizations in the city and surrounding area.  (Read more at whitehouse.gov) Download Photo (JPG)