IMPACT REPORT
The Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association
A Word from
LEADERSHIP
Every day, throughout the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania community foundations are making an impact. They are making thoughtful grant decisions to benefit nonprofit organizations. They are connecting donors with causes they care about. They are carefully fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities to keep and maintain, the charitable purchasing power of endowed assets, over time.
Community foundations in Pennsylvania are also community leadership organizations. They successfully partner with donors, nonprofits, business leaders, other funders and governments to identify and address the most pressing priorities of their service areas. The Pittsburgh Foundation has a focus on affordable housing. Lancaster Community Foundation proudly places DEI at the center of all their activity. Lehigh Valley Community Foundation is working with a broad coalition to improve childcare in their region. The Philadelphia Foundation is addressing gun violence. Many smaller and rural community foundations are working to increase economic vitality and to encourage population growth. The list goes on and on….
Michael Batchelor President
Increasingly, Pennsylvania foundations are also learning how to work together to address needs in the Commonwealth, at scale. Our Action Teams (see page 12) have helped make important changes to how scholarship programs operate, how insurance covers telemedicine and how affordable housing dollars are allocated throughout the Commonwealth.
Community foundations have been recognized as the nation’s fastest growing form of philanthropy. In Pennsylvania, they collectively manage $5 billion of philanthropic assets and annually award over $300 million in grants to thousands of nonprofit organizations. Donors and professional advisors find them a helpful and user-friendly partner that can accomplish personal philanthropic and estate planning goals in a cost-effective fashion.
The Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association, PACFA, invites you to learn more about the work of community foundations. They are here to serve; they are here for good, and they are here forever
Phil Koch Board Chair
Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association
BOARD & STAFF
Board Chair Vice Chair
Phil Koch
Vice President of Policy & Community Impact, The Pittsburgh Foundation
Erika Riddle Petrozelli
President & CEO, Lehigh Valley Community Foundation
Karen Bilowith
President & CEO, The Erie Community Foundation
Amanda Campbell President & CEO, Schuylkill Area Community Foundation
Ted Qualli
Director of Communications and Marketing, The Philadelphia Foundation
Jennifer Wilson
President & CEO, First Community Foundation Partnership of PA
Trenton Moulin
Executive Director, Bridge Builders Community Foundation
Secretary
Jodi Cessna
Executive Director, Central Pennsylvania Community Foundation
Paula Fritz Eddy
Executive Director, Elk & McKean County Community Foundations
Treasurer President & CEO
Michael Batchelor
Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association
Ryanne Jennings
President & CEO, Wayne County Community Foundation
PROGRAMMING
The mission of PACFA is to help our members connect, learn and where appropriate act collectively. We offer a broad range of programs including a webinar series, new staff training academy, an annual conference, legislative visits, Action Team support and on-site member visitations.
Increasingly, PACFA also partners with other national philanthropic leadership organizations to amplify their messages and to bring additional services to the Commonwealth.
CFLEADS ECONOMIC MOBILITY
STEINMAN INSTITUTE CONVENING
SAMPLE WEBINARS
Perils of the Benefits Cliff
Donna Cooper, Children First & Kristen Rotz, United Way of Pennsylvania
Investment Management Snapshot: How do you compare?
Andrew Zach, Fund Evaluation Group
The Eviction Crisis in Pennsylvania
Phyllis Chamberlain, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
Gale Schwarts, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
Joshua Devine, The Pittsburgh Foundation
Transfer of Wealth
Kyle Kopko, Center for Rural Pennsylvania
Laura Dimino, Center for Rural Pennsylvania
Where does the money go?
Ralph Serpe, Adams County Community Foundation
Keeping Assets Local: Updates to PA Interstate Succession Statute
Ralph Serpe, Adams County Community Foundation
NEW STAFF TRAINING ACADEMIES
Washington & Lancaster PA
ANNUAL CONFERENCES
PACFA annually plans and hosts a state-wide educational conference for membership. The conference draws well over 100 members from virtually every community foundation in Pennsylvania. National thought leadership presentations are paired with practical workshops on how to enhance community foundation impact and effectiveness. Technology user group pre-sessions are also available as well as invaluable networking opportunities. Thanks to an impressive array of conference sponsors, registration is available at modest rates.
MEMBERS BY REGION
Bridge Builders Community Foundation
bbcf.org
The Erie Community Foundation
eriecommunityfoundation.org
Crawford Heritage Community Foundation
crawfordheritage.org
Community Foundation of Western PA and Eastern OH
comm-foundation.org
Armstrong County Community Foundation
accfound.org
The Pittsburgh Foundation
pittsburghfoundation.org
POISE Foundation
poisefoundation.org wccf.net
Washington County Community Foundation
Community Foundation of Greene County
cfgcpa.org
Community Foundation of Fayette County
cfayettepa.org
The Community Foundation of Westmoreland County
cfwestmoreland.org
Community Foundation for the Alleghenies
cfalleghenies.org
Elk County Community Foundation
McKean County Community Foundation
mckeancountyfoundation.org
elkcountyfoundation.org
Central Pennsylvania
Community Foundation
centralpagives.org
The Foundation for Enhancing Communities
tfec.org
Adam County Community Foundation
adamscountycf.org
Centre Foundation
clintoncountyfoundation.org centre-foundation.org
First Community Foundation Partnership of PA
Clinton County Community Foundation
twintierscf.org fcfpartnership.org
Community Foundation for the Twin Tiers
Lancaster County Community Foundation
York County Community Foundation
yccf.org lancfound.org
Berks County Community Foundation
bccf.org
Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains
community-foundation.org
Wayne County Community Foundation
waynefoundation.org
The Luzerne Foundation
luzfdn.org
Schuylkill Area Community Foundation
sacfoundation.com
Chester County Community Foundation
chescocf.org
Greater Pike Community Foundation
greaterpike.org
Scranton Area Community Foundation
safdn.org
Community Giving Foundation
csgiving.org
Lehigh Valley Community Foundation
lvcfoundation.org
Bucks County Foundation
buckscountyfoundation.org
The Foundation for Delaware County Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation
pottstownfoundation.org
The Philadelphia Foundation
philafound.org
The Community's Foundation
tcfrichmond.org
delcofoundation.org
A STATISTICAL SNAPSHOT
study conducted by the Community Foundation Research and Training Institute
The Community Foundation Research and Training Institute (CFRTI) annually provides a statistical snapshot of PACFA membership. Collectively, our members employ 457 Pennsylvanians and are governed by 563 well respected civic leaders.
The CFRTI study confirms Pennsylvania community foundation are fast growing and well supported by donors. From 2016 to 2021, total assets of our members grew 68%, and this is after distributing hundreds of millions each year in grants and scholarships.
$5,000,000,000
$4,000,000,000
$3,000,000,000
$2,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$0
The three largest community foundations in the Commonwealth are Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Erie, respectively. There are a dozen community foundations in Pennsylvania with assets of $100 million, or more.
Every PA community foundation is growing in size and influence. All are also providing important community leadership, donor education and other philanthropic services for professional advisors, nonprofits and the regions they serve.
While not core to their missions of building permanent philanthropic endowments, many PACFA members also host successful Giving Days that encourage outright gifts from the general public to support literally thousands of nonprofits across the Commonwealth.
Pennsylvania community foundations also strengthen the nonprofit sector beyond grantmaking. Many offer, support, or partner with nonprofit capacity building projects. These educational programs increase the impact of philanthropic gifts and grants. Some examples include:
Another priority for all Pennsylvania community foundations is to ensure philanthropy is supported by, and accessible to, all. Women’s Funds, Young Donor Groups, LGBT Funds and other affinity groups are a common and growing forces for good in communities across the Commonwealth. Some examples include:
ACTION TEAMS
The Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association (PACFA) was created to improve the Commonwealth by helping our members connect, learn and where appropriate, act collectively. PACFA, itself, does not intend to pursue a collective legislative or public policy agenda. Our theory of change is to support multiple groups of individual community foundations as they partner and build coalitions to address specific topical priorities, as selected by members.
When a member identifies a public policy priority, they are asked to lead an Action Team. PACFA will then support this Action Team through advice, promotion and connection with interested peers.
Recent Action Team successes include:
Telemedicine
Community foundations, and their grantees, are eyewitnesses to the positive impact that telemedicine has on individuals and families across the Commonwealth. Telemedicine helps insure critical and quality care, including primary, mental and behavioral services, is being delivered in timely fashion.
The Pittsburgh Foundation assembled an impressive coalition of more than 140 organizations state-wide, including nearly 20 community foundations, to support legislation to define telemedicine, offer guidelines outlining who can provide telemedicine services and provide clarity around insurance company reimbursements for these services.
The bill, SB 739, was led by prime sponsor Senator Elder Vogel and was signed into law by Governor Shapiro on July 3, 2024. As hospitals close in rural communities across the Commonwealth, the passing of this legislation is an exceptional step in expanding access to critical and quality health care. Thanks to the PACFA Action Team for mobilizing to help address this key issue.
Donor Advised Fund Regulations
In early 2024, the United States Treasury department issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking pertaining to the definitions and rules related to donor-advised funds. Many in the philanthropic sector, including the vast majority of community foundations, were concerned these proposed regulations would have an unintended consequence of impeding charitable giving.
PACFA helped to educate its members and to generate support for a bi-partisan letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen that was eventually signed by 33 members; 21 Republicans and 12 Democrats, of the House Ways and Means Committee. Individual PACFA members also attended Treasury Department hearings and individual meetings with elected officials.
PACFA has also worked with Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania to conduct general community and philanthropic update sessions with House and Senate elected leaders and their staffs.
Scholarship Displacement
Scholarship donors are keenly interested in closing the gap between what a student can provide, and what they need to pay, for college. Unfortunately, colleges and universities have routinely reduced, or displaced, financial aid awards to students based on the amount of private scholarships funding they may receive from outside scholarship providers.
Thanks to the hard work of the PACFA Scholarship Displacement Action Team, scholarship displacement at Pennsylvania’s public colleges and universities is now illegal. Outside awards, including those from Pennsylvania’s Community Foundations, are now accomplishing the donor’s original intent reducing overall family contribution and loan obligations.
A strong coalition of community foundations led by Ralph Serpe, President and CEO of the Adams County Community Foundation, began work to help Pennsylvania become the fourth state in the nation to eliminate scholarship displacement in 2018. PACFA Action Team participants, with impressive support from the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Foundation, helped educate elected officials and scholarship providers on the issue. The result was the passage of HB 1642 on July 8, 2022. This legislation eliminated the practice of public colleges and universities reducing a student’s financial aid package when the student receives a private scholarship.
Housing issues plague every community in the Commonwealth. In Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund, PHARE Fund, is the most flexible housing fund for these types of projects. A PACFA Action Team led by the Pittsburgh Foundation successfully worked with a coalition of community foundations and housing providers to dramatically increase state funds allocated to the PHARE Fund.
At the beginning of the 2021-22 legislative session, the PHARE Fund was capped at $40,000,000 annually. Through advocacy efforts from both housing focused organizations and a PACFA action team, the cap on the PHARE Fund was increased from $40,000,000 annually to $60,000,000 annually. Additionally, a one-time distribution of $100,000,000 was transferred to the PHARE Fund from remaining American Rescue Plan funds.
This was a bipartisan effort with support from both sides of the aisle, the House, the Senate, and the Governor’s office. Legislation was then passed to totally remove the prior cap on PHARE Funding.Additionally, the PHARE fund will increase by $10,000,000 every year until it reaches $100,000,000
PACFA does reserve the right to pursue a collective legislative or public policy agenda should issues arise that impact the ability of community foundations to operate efficiently and effectively. Any Action Team(s) related to these topics will only be established after review by PACFA board and upon approval of at least two thirds of membership.
TRANSFER OF WEALTH STUDY
conducted by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania Transfer of Wealth Study estimates the total net worth of Pennsylvania households in 2023 at just over $5 trillion. This is $958,613 per household. Over the next decade, an estimated $418 billion of this wealth will transfer from one generation to the next. This is $79,340 per household.
This upcoming transfer of wealth presents a tremendous opportunity to benefit nonprofits and the citizens of the Commonwealth for generations to come. If just 5% of this transfer were used to establish or add to named endowments funds withing Pennsylvania community foundations, it would create $21 billion of permanent philanthropic capital. This would quadruple the assets and annual grantmaking ability of Pennsylvania community foundations.
In several states, community foundations have developed strong messaging campaigns to encourage philanthropic giving after the release of Transfer of Wealth studies. PACFA is currently working with its membership to create a similar effort in Pennsylvania.
BY THE NUMBERS PACFA Financials
PACFA is a dues paying organization, supported by our membership. We are governed by an elected board and led by CEO, Michael Batchelor who previously had a 31-year career leading The Erie Community Foundation. Administrative support services are provided by The Nonprofit Partnership in Erie, PA.
PACFA is financially solid and enthusiastically supported, primarily, through member dues.
The Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association (PACFA) is a network of individual community foundations, all working to enhance the quality of life in the regions they serve by growing permanent endowment funds, through creative and thoughtful grantmaking, tailored donor education and through dynamic community leadership programs.
The mission of PACFA is to help our members connect, learn and where appropriate act collectively.
