The Columbus Foundation is the trusted philanthropic advisor® to 2,400 individuals, families, and businesses who have created charitable funds and planned gifts to make a difference in the lives of others through the most effective philanthropy possible. These individuals, families, businesses, and communities have created unique funds through the Foundation to support the causes they care about. Grants are made from these funds according to donors' wishes, to support a wide range of initiatives, programs, and nonprofit organizations in the community.

As the seventh largest community foundation in the United States, The Columbus Foundation manages $1.7 billion in assets. Since its founding, grants from donors have totaled more than $1.53 billion, primarily benefiting central Ohio.

History:

The Columbus Foundation was established. More than seventy years ago, a group of passionate citizens, led by Harrison M. Sayre, envisioned a way to improve the community and the quality of life in central Ohio. With little more than this sound idea and faith, The Columbus Foundation was established in 1943.

Grantmaking Initiatives:

The Foundation’s major grantmaking initiatives in 2013 included the following: investments in the ongoing innovations of the United Schools Network (USN), which operates one of the highest performing public middle schools in Franklin County; the ongoing revitalization of the Weinland Park neighborhood, located southeast of The Ohio State University; and the Summer Fellowship Program, which engages the next generation of nonprofit leaders by providing meaningful, career-related work for undergraduate and graduate students in the nonprofit sector.