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For over 50 years, the Community Foundation has helped people give with purpose, strengthening Memphis and the Mid-South.

We make giving easier and more impactful by matching your generosity with the causes and community you care about most.

We offer solutions and resources to donors and the professionals who advise them to help you give smarter and do more good.

We offer funding opportunities that helps nonprofits and students create positive change and build futures.

When you get involved with the Community Foundation, you join a group of people committed to Memphis’s future.

Learn more about the philanthropic hub that connects capital with the solutions that make our community thrive.

Another impressive year of results

In our most recent fiscal year (ended April 30, 2026), the Community Foundation distributed nearly 6,900 grants totaling almost $148 million to 2,012 distinct organizations.

Philanthropy & Giving

Published: May 13, 2026

Another impressive year of results

A graphic showing an open hand holding a gift box with a bow. Text reads: $147.9 million grants from the foundation, 6,892 grants—impressive year results. Community Foundation of Greater Memphis logo at the top.
Infographic with a map pin icon highlights an impressive year: 2,012 distinct nonprofits and 80.5% of grants awarded locally. The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis logo sits in the top left corner on a teal background.
A graphic with a calendar and clock icon, the Community Foundation logo at the top, and text that reads: 12th straight year grants exceeded $100 million—an impressive year of results. The background is teal.

At our May 7 Annual Meeting, Community Foundation president Bob Fockler shared with attendees that, in our most recent fiscal year (ended April 30, 2026), the Community Foundation distributed nearly 6,900 grants totaling almost $148 million to 2,012 distinct organizations. That marks the 12th straight year grants to nonprofits exceeded $100 million—a feat that fewer than a dozen community foundations nationwide can claim.

This year 80 percent of grants stayed in our immediate service area of West Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, and northern Mississippi. 

Community Voices

“

Our donors care. You want to help, and you’re making consequential investments in the causes and organizations you value, particularly close to home. “

A middle-aged man with gray hair and a beard, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and light green tie, smiling outdoors with a blurred green background.

Bob Fockler

Bob Fockler, President of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis

Record gifts to the Community Foundation

We also saw an astounding $285 million in gifts into the Community Foundation. An all-time record, that is an 86% increase over last year. Regarding the “absolutely staggering” figure, Fockler shared at the Annual Meeting, “…there are at least four things that can generate increased giving at year end:

  • A strong stock market
  • Changes in tax law
  • A disruption in the nonprofit world, and
  • Significant one-off transactions, like a major estate gift or the sale of a local business, incenting the owner to want to shelter a portion of the gain with charitable giving.

“We had all four of those last year.”

A graphic showing a large outlined present icon. Text reads: $285.2 million gifts to the foundation, an all-time record reflecting impressive year results. Community Foundation of Greater Memphis logo is in the top left corner.

Record asset level

Graphic showing $1.4 billion in assets under management—an all-time record for a year of results—making the organization the 21st largest community foundation in the country, with a cityscape illustration and a tree logo.

We now manage just short of $1.4 billion in charitable assets.

Based on numbers shared by our peers earlier this year, that makes us the 21st largest community foundation in the country.

We’re here to invest and grow donors’ dollars when they’re with us and more importantly deploy them to do more good—at their discretion—over time.

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