Our toolkit complements a wide range of other excellent tools and resources that have been created over the years to help community foundations think about their operations, business practices, and communities. Although it is by no means comprehensive, the list below provides links to a number of sources that we believe can be helpful to community foundations that are carefully thinking about their communities and how they do their work. 

The Chapin Hall Center for Children has developed a range of materials and tools related to philanthropy and community change.

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation has been working with communities for almost 20 years, and has developed a number of helpful tools and frameworks for thinking about community capacity and issues.

Community Indicators projects now exist in more than 200 communities across the U.S. A range of sites, including those of Redefining Progress, the Community Indicators Consortium, and the Knight Foundation, provide links and information related to the many projects that are attempting to track community conditions and trends.

The Council on Foundations Standards and Best Practices Database provides tools and resources to help community foundations improve their operations.

The Council on Foundations has developed the Making a Difference: A Community Impact Series to help community foundations increase the impact of their community leadership and grantmaking.

Community Foundations of America has developed a number of important resources for community foundations related to marketing, accountability, and technology.
                    
Foundation Strategy Group has created numerous tools and materials to help community foundations analyze their cost and revenue structures and think about their strategies.

The Women’s Funding Network’s Smart Growth report offers new ways of thinking about the growth and development of a foundation. Although the piece focuses on women’s foundations, many of the ideas may be helpful to growing community foundations as well.    

BoardSource provides practical information, tools, and best practices for board members of nonprofits worldwide.

The Community Foundation Governance Project at the Arizona State Unversity Center for Leadership and Nonprofit Management was launched in 2004 to study community foundation governance practices.

Leading by Example: Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in Community Foundations, a joint effort of California Tomorrow and the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth, includes a report and tools to help community foundations think about diversity issues.

The Building a Better Foundation toolkit was developed by the regional associations of grantmakers in Minnesota, Chicago, New York, and northern California to provide foundations with simple tools to help them think about diversity within their organizations and in their grantmaking.

A 2004 Community Foundations of America report, Engaging Donors of Color in Philanthropy, reviews and analyzes existing community foundation models for engaging donors of color.

The Council on Foundations provides links to a number of resources on diversity in philanthropy, including several articles from the November/December 2004 issue of Foundation News & Commentary.

A report by the Mid South Commission to Build Philanthropy, Where Hope and History Rhyme, reflects on how a foundation can begin to discuss and deal with race and equity issues. Additional tools related to the report are expected in 2006.

The Expanding Nonprofit Inclusiveness Initiative (ENII), a project of The Denver Foundation, provides resources and tools that the foundation uses to help nonprofit grantees become more inclusive.

The Philanthropy 2173 blog by Lucy Bernholz contains observations about trends and developments that are emerging in and around the field of philanthropy.

The Council on Foundations Emerging Issues blog tracks hot topics, recent research, trends, and new reports on philanthropy.

Future Survey, edited by Michael Marion and published by the World Future Society, is a monthly survey of trends and future-focused publications.

The Worldwatch Institute website offers a wealth of research on current trends, as well as analyses of their long-term implications for building an “environmentally sustainable and socially just society.”