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Community Foundation of Elkhart County ranks among top foundations in the U.S.

May 24, 2023

The Community Foundation of Elkhart County continues to be among the top-ranked foundations in the United States, according to the latest CF Insights Annual Survey.

The annual survey, which in the past was called the Columbus Survey, gathers information from nearly 200 community foundations. Half of those are in the Midwest.

The survey ranks foundations in four areas: assets, number of transactions, gifts per capita, and distribution rate (the percentage of assets that are granted). The most recent survey covers Fiscal Year 21, which for the Community Foundation of Elkhart County was July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

“We continue to be amazed at the generosity of people in Elkhart County and are pleased to be stewards of the community assets,” said President Pete McCown. “If you add these metrics together, we believe we rank in the top 50 community foundations in the country and that is simply remarkable, particularly for a community of our size.”

The Community Foundation of Elkhart County’s highest ranking in this year’s survey was 31 for gifts per capita of $122.68, calculated by dividing the $25.4 million in received giving by the county’s population.

The foundation ranked 43rd for its number of transactions, which was 7,496. By comparison, in the 2016 survey, the community foundation ranked 94th in the number of transactions with 3,639.

Though many community foundations serve more than one county, the Community Foundation of Elkhart County continues to rank in the top 100 in total assets with $418 million. That ranked it 64th in the country in this year’s survey.

The community foundation fell out of the top 100 with its distribution rate of 6 percent this year, ranking 103rd. Twenty other community foundations also awarded 6 percent of asset totals annually through a number of types of grants, including those from Donor Advised Funds.

Both fundraising and grantmaking increased nationally in 2021 for the second consecutive year.

“The median community foundation increased their fundraising totals by 16 percent over the previous year as donors sought to support local response,” according to the survey report at annualsurvey.cfinsights.org. “Participating community foundations reported a collective grantmaking total of nearly $12.5 billion, with 55 percent of all respondents reporting an increase in grantmaking totals over an already active 2020.”