CFLeads

05/07/2026

We’re pleased to share that Geoffrey Canada will join us as the keynote speaker for the 2026 Economic Mobility Summit!

As the President of the Harlem Children's Zone, Geoffrey has helped shape a nationally recognized, place-based approach to advancing opportunity – demonstrating what’s possible when communities align around long-term, holistic strategies for change.

His perspective will help frame this year’s Summit as we bring together community foundation leaders, partners, and practitioners committed to advancing economic mobility through collaboration, connection, and shared learning.

We look forward to convening leaders from across the country to explore how community foundations can continue to play a central role in building pathways to opportunity.

📍 Where: Fort Worth, Texas
📅 When: July 29–30, 2026 (with a welcome reception on July 28)
👉 Learn more and register today: https://whova.com/portal/registration/Fw2GSDPlSYtdiOnYtMEd/

04/27/2026

📚 Community foundations play a critical role in advancing strong, equitable communities, and CFLeads supports this work by strengthening community leadership – helping foundations navigate complexity, respond to emerging needs, and lead with clarity and purpose.

Our new 2026 Community Foundation Trends and Priorities Executive Summary Report reflects what we’re hearing from the field. Drawing on insights from 100+ community foundation leaders nationwide, it highlights shared priorities, emerging challenges, and key opportunities for action. These insights ensure our work at CFLeads remains responsive, relevant, and grounded in the evolving needs of the field.

Thank you to the community foundation leaders who took the time to share their insights through this survey – your perspectives are essential to understanding the field and shaping this work.

👉 Explore the executive summary today: https://cfleads.org/resource/2026-community-foundation-trends-and-priorities/
👉 Express interest in the full report (available Summer 2026): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYg9_JYig7yTz03kE02rfN5cXIp6dm8unlOCVGu2IEcz0jxw/viewform
The full report will be available as a CFLeads Investor benefit and for purchase by non-Investors.

04/24/2026

🎉 Congratulations to the latest cohort of the Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) for CEOs on their final convening this week in Columbia, SC!

This group of community foundation CEOs has engaged deeply in strengthening their community leadership – bringing honesty, rigor, and a strong commitment to advancing impact in their regions. This final convening reflected that spirit, with thoughtful peer exchange, honest reflection on leadership challenges, and a continued focus on uplifting their communities.

We’re especially grateful to Georgia Mjartan, President & CEO of Central Carolina Community Foundation for hosting and Darrin Goss Sr., President & CEO of the Coastal Community Foundation and LaTida Smith, President of The Winston-Salem Foundation for sharing their community leadership journeys, offering powerful examples of how to align board and strategy in service of community impact. Thank you as well to Sarina Beges-Thysen from The Aspen Institute for leading a forward-looking discussion on evolving community foundation business models, and to Daniel Rickenmann, Mayor of Columbia, for joining the cohort to highlight the role of civic spaces like Finlay Park in strengthening community life.

And of course, thank you to this exceptional cohort for your leadership, your openness to learning, and your dedication to advancing community leadership across the country.

Please join us in celebrating the following CEOs on advancing their community leadership journey:

Becca Baumbach, Community Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks & Region
Laura Ducceschi, Scranton Area Community Foundation
Chris Huber, Black Hills Area Community Foundation
Ryanne Jennings, Wayne County Community Foundation
Georgia Mjartan, Central Carolina Community Foundation
Veronica Thames, Manatee Community Foundation
Tim Wohlgenant, Yampa Valley Community Foundation

We look forward to seeing how you carry this work forward.

Interested in joining our next ELI for CEOs cohort? Apply today:

⏳ Applications due Wednesday, April 29
💡 Learn more about ELI:https://cfleads.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ELI_ProgramOverview_2025-1.pdf
📝 Apply today: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8WQFJ6Z
⭐ CFLeads Investors receive a 5% discount on registration

04/17/2026

Apply today for the 2026 Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) Cohort for CEOs!

⏳ Applications due Wednesday, April 29
💡 Learn more about ELI:https://cfleads.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/ELI_ProgramOverview_2025-1.pdf
📝 Apply today: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8WQFJ6Z
⭐ CFLeads Investors receive a 5% discount on registration

Designed exclusively for community foundation CEOs and Executive Directors, ELI is a six-month long learning experience comprised of three in person meetings and two virtual calls, focusing on strengthening community leadership and advancing long-term, equitable impact.

Through ELI, participants will:
• Engage with practices that are demonstrating results in communities across the country
• Exchange insights and strategies with a trusted peer cohort
• Gain perspective from leaders navigating similar opportunities and challenges

The 2026 cohort will begin with an in-person convening in Charlotte, NC in June.

🎥 Hear directly from past participants as they share reflections on the value of the ELI for CEOs experience and how it has shaped their leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzIyZBcKGkw

04/13/2026

Community foundations play a critical role in building communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. This July, CFLeads will convene leaders from across the country for the 2026 Economic Mobility Summit: Paving Pathways – a dynamic, day-and-a-half gathering focused on advancing lasting, place-based change.

📅 July 29–30, 2026 (with a welcome reception on July 28)
📍 Fort Worth, Texas
👥 Who should attend: Community foundation CEOs and staff, cross-sector partners, and leaders advancing economic mobility

Set in a city that reflects both deep history and strong community-driven initiatives, the Summit will bring together practitioners, funders, and thought partners committed to strengthening economic mobility through collaboration, connection, and shared learning.

🎙️ What to expect:
• Featured speakers including Jennifer Blatz and Russell Booker
• Plenary sessions with national and local perspectives
• Interactive, practice-based breakout discussions
• A site visit highlighting community-driven work in Fort Worth
• Opportunities to connect with peers and partners from across the country

👉 Register today and join us in Fort Worth: https://whova.com/portal/registration/Fw2GSDPlSYtdiOnYtMEd/

04/10/2026

💡Community foundations play a critical role in advancing local ideas into meaningful, lasting impact – and Knight Foundation is inviting you to be part of that work.

The Knight Cities Challenge is now open, supporting ideas that strengthen communities across 26 cities, specifically focused on local news, economic opportunity, and connection through arts and culture. For community foundations, this is a chance to elevate community-driven solutions, deepen partnerships, and help bring resident-led ideas to life.

We encourage you to apply, partner, and share this opportunity across your networks!

04/07/2026

📚 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/

03/30/2026

💡As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, community foundations have an opportunity, and responsibility, to engage with it thoughtfully to advance community impact.

In our latest blog, Emerging AI Trends Across the Field: 2026 CFLeads Survey Insights, CFLeads Graduate Fellow Adán Chávez shares early findings from our national Issues of Interest survey, highlighting how community foundations are approaching AI – and where deeper investment in learning and capacity is needed.

This moment calls for intentionality – building the knowledge, partnerships, and infrastructure needed to lead with purpose in a rapidly changing environment. To explore these trends and what they mean for the field, read our blog and join us for our upcoming webinar, The State of the Field: Emerging Priorities Shaping Community Foundations’ Work.

📝 Blog: https://cfleads.org/cfleads-post/emerging-ai-trends-across-the-field-2026-cfleads-survey-insights/
📅 Webinar Date: April 14, 2026
🔗 Register Today: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EGleR2xDQW-tXGWDURUQyw #/registration

This blog post was written by CFLeads Graduate Fellow, Adán Chávez. Adán is a second-year Master of Public Affairs student at the Princeton School

03/20/2026

🎉 Please join us in congratulating Sarah Aguirre Origer, MA, CFRM on her promotion to Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Innovation!

In this role, Sarah will advance CFLeads’ mission by forging strategic partnerships, driving innovation, and amplifying our impact nationwide. She will serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and a facilitator of transformative change with our team in support of community foundations across the country, including directing the burgeoning Community Foundations for Civic Health initiative (CFCH).

🎙️ “Sarah has a remarkable ability to cultivate meaningful partnerships that translate vision into sustained impact. She brings both strategic perspective and practical experience that will be essential as we continue to expand CFLeads’ reach and relevance to community foundations nationwide. I’m excited to see how her leadership will help shape our next chapter.” - Mary L. Thomas, President & CEO, CFLeads

Sarah brings deep experience in place-based philanthropy. Prior to joining CFLeads, she served as Director of GIFT Programming and Technical Services at the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance, and before that spent nearly a decade with the Northern Indiana Community Foundation. Her work reflects a strong commitment to the intersection of community development, civic engagement, impact investing, and advocacy.

🎤 “I’m honored to lead CFLeads’ strategic partnerships at a time when community foundations are poised to drive transformative change. I’m energized by the opportunity to forge collaborations that empower community foundations to tackle complex challenges like strengthening civic health, fostering equity, and creating lasting, community-driven impact.” - Sarah Aguirre Origer, MA, CFRM, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Innovation, CFLeads

Congratulations, Sarah – we’re excited for what’s ahead! 🌟

03/04/2026

🎉 Please join us in congratulating Amanda Hartigan on her promotion to Senior Director of Programs, Strategy, and Culture!

In this expanded leadership role, Amanda will serve as a trusted partner to our CEO in advancing CFLeads 2.0 – ensuring our strategy translates into high-quality ex*****on across programs, strategy, and culture. She will oversee learning and program delivery, strengthen cross-team coordination, and help drive the operational consistency and scalability of CFLeads programming needed to meet the evolving needs of community foundations nationwide.

🎤 "Amanda is an exceptional leader and thought partner. She brings clarity, rigor, and passion to everything she does. As we continue to scale CFLeads 2.0, her ability to connect strategy to ex*****on – and to do so in a way that strengthens our culture – will be critical to our success. We are fortunate to have her leadership at this pivotal moment for our organization and our field." – Mary L. Thomas, President & CEO, CFLeads

Amanda brings deep experience and a strong values-driven lens to this role. After graduating from Harvard University and earning her MBA from Boston University, she began her career in the community foundation field at The Boston Foundation, where she developed a deep appreciation for the unique role community foundations play in advancing local impact. Since joining CFLeads, she has been instrumental in strengthening program quality, aligning strategy with ex*****on, and fostering a collaborative, learning-oriented culture.

🎙️ "I’m honored to step into this role at a time when community foundations are being called to lead with courage and impact. CFLeads plays a critical role in equipping the field to meet this moment. I’m excited to continue strengthening our programs, deepening cross-team collaboration, and working with our President and CEO and team to optimize the internal capacity that allows us to deliver our programming with excellence and purpose." – Amanda Hartigan, Senior Director of Programs, Strategy, and Culture, CFLeads

02/27/2026

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.