Contact

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.

Help decide grants

Do you feel rooted in Greater Memphis and wish you could do more to create impact here? Do you have ideas for how greater investment could help tackle our community’s needs or build its assets? The Community Foundation has an open nomination process for our grant committees.

This could be an incredible way for you to volunteer and help direct $1.5 million in annual giving to local nonprofits through the FOREVER Funds or to be part of GiVE 365 grant review awarding approximately $60,000 a year.

A core value of our Community Investment Principles is inclusion. Committee members go beyond experts and philanthropic leaders and come from all parts of the community and diverse lived experiences.

  • The Community Foundation accepts nominations to our FOREVER Funds grant committees from January to March each year. These nominations may either come from the interested party or be submitted on behalf of a nominee by another community member.
  • GiVE 365 members may sign up to join a GiVE 365 grant review team annually in January to review funding proposals advancing that year’s theme.

Volunteer opportunities

Strengthening Nonprofits Committee

Focuses on making grants that help nonprofit organizations become more effective in delivering their services and fulfilling their mission

Community Initiatives Committee

Provides recommendations to the Board of Governors regarding the annual grantmaking budget and the development and implementation of community-focused initiatives

GiVE 365 Grant Review Team

Reviews applications and makes recommendations for GiVE 365 grant finalists advancing an annual theme. Click this card to learn more.

FOREVER Funds committee nomination information

  • If you are interested in nominating yourself, we invite you to fill out the form below. If you would like to nominate someone else, please email Director of Community Impact Aerial Ozuzu FIRST to provide details on your nominee. We will then reach out to your nominee and ask them to submit this form. Submission of this form does not guarantee that your nomination will be accepted.
  • Before submitting your nomination, please read the job description of the Strengthening Nonprofits Committee and the job description of the Community Initiatives Committee. These documents will outline the requirements more in depth and give you an overview of the time commitment needed for each.
  • In addition to our commitment to seeking diversity in demographics and geography, we are seeking committee members from various constituencies including community, business, nonprofit, and grassroots leaders[1]. We are also seeking members with skills including financial expertise, nonprofit operations, marketing, community relations, and others.
  • Nominations are due by Tuesday, March 31, 2026. All nominations are initially vetted by staff, who may ask for clarification of items submitted on the nomination form or for a more in-depth, one-on-one conversation with the nominee. A slate of recommendations is then presented to the Community Foundation’s Board Development Committee, which consists of current members of the Board and Honorary Trustees. That committee will present a final slate of nominees to be approved by the Board of Governors in May of each year.[2] You will be notified if you have been accepted to join a committee by May 31.
  • All FOREVER Funds committee members are required to review and sign the Grant Committee Member Agreement upon appointment. This agreement outlines expectations related to participation, time commitment, trainings, and conduct. We strongly encourage you to read the agreement in advance so you understand what committee service entails.

Thank you for working to strengthen our community though philanthropy!

[1] Grassroots leaders are local agents that advocate for change and initiate processes in their communities to organize solutions to issues and being transformation.

[2] Occasionally, it may be necessary to nominate a committee member during another time of year, but their nomination will go through the same process.

Committee volunteer nomination form