CFLeads

📚 We’re proud to share a new, field-driven resource at a pivotal moment for our communities – Community Foundations for Civic Health: Learning & Action in 2025 and Directions for 2026.

Community Foundations for Civic Health (CFCH) – an initiative of CFLeads, Rhode Island Foundation, National Civic League, and partners – reflects a growing recognition across philanthropy: investing in civic health is investing in the long-term capacity of communities to thrive. Through CFCH, community foundations are strengthening their ability to convene across differences, build local plans for civic health, and advance solutions that are both locally rooted and nationally connected.

Across the country, communities are navigating growing polarization, declining trust, and fewer opportunities for connection and participation. This report makes a clear case: strengthening civic health is essential to achieving lasting community impact, and community foundations are uniquely positioned to lead.

Drawing on insights from more than 160 community foundations across 45 states, the report highlights both the urgency of this moment and the extraordinary momentum already underway. Community foundations are stepping forward as trusted conveners, catalysts for connection and collaboration, and whole-system leaders advancing solutions across issues like economic mobility, education, and health.

This report is both a reflection of where we are and an invitation to lead. Strengthening civic health is long-term, foundational work that requires sustained commitment, shared learning, and collective action.

🔗 Read the report and join us in advancing this work: https://cfleads.org/resource/community-foundations-for-civic-health-learning-action-in-2025-and-directions-for-2026/

We’re proud to share that Mary L. Thomas, our President and CEO, represented CFLeads at the third annual Racial Equity Builders’ Dialogue (REBD), hosted by the Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico and its Racial Equity Building Institute for the Americas (REBIA) initiative.

REBD 2026 convened community leaders, philanthropic partners, and international experts to engage deeply in racial equity conversations at a pivotal moment for communities across the Americas.

Mary moderated a panel on Strengthening Civil Society and Social Capital Through Place-Based Investments with incredible thought leaders, including:

🎙️ Susan D. Johnson, Lumina Foundation
🎙️ Meshie K., David and Lucile Packard Foundation
🎙️ Gretchen Sierra-Zorita, 1st White House Director for Puerto Rico and Territories
🎙️ Desirée Cormier Smith, The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice
🎙️ L. Marshall Washington, Kalamazoo Community Foundation

At CFLeads, we believe community foundations play a vital role in strengthening civil society infrastructure and advancing equity through place-based leadership. We are grateful to stand alongside partners across the Americas committed to turning dialogue into action.