The 2026 Donor Perception Survey
In March and April 2026, Community Foundation Boulder County collaborated with the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) to survey Community Foundation Boulder County’s donor-advised fundholders (DAF holders) and a subset of donors with the goal of better understanding how our leadership, collaborations, and philanthropic services are serving our DAF holders and closest donors.
For 25 years, CEP has been a national leader in foundation client tools and has worked closely with hundreds of foundations across the country on similar surveys. As a neutral third party, CEP not only conducts the survey to ensure privacy and accuracy, but they also draw on aggregate data from surveys with other foundations to provide a strong dataset with which to compare ourselves. This information helps us understand where we stand in both the broader philanthropic community but also compared to a cohort of community foundations most like CFBC (based on characteristics like staff size, assets under management, communities served, etc.).
Community Foundation Boulder County worked with CEP on similar surveys in 2012 and 2021, allowing staff to assess our work over time. This feedback helps us remain responsive to the changing needs and opportunities of Boulder County.
Our 2026 survey achieved a 21% response rate, giving us a meaningful data set to evaluate and reflect on. We are deeply grateful to the donors who took the time to share their feedback.
Below, we are pleased to share some of the key findings and recommendations from the 2026 report.
CFBC’s Important Role in the Community
Donors highlight the community foundation’s deep knowledge of and connection to the broader community and its increasingly valuable resources to inform their giving goals.
When asked to provide their top reason for giving to or through the community foundation, an overwhelming majority of donors select CFBC’s knowledge of the Boulder County community and local nonprofits.
CFBC Donor Future Giving Plans
Over 90 percent of donors, a proportion that continues to be larger than that of most other community foundations in CEP’s dataset, report plans to give again to the community foundation in the coming years.
As in 2021, more than half of donors plan to give by contributing to a previously established fund. Nearly 40 percent report plans to contribute to an unrestricted or field of interest fund, more than three times the typical proportion of donors and the highest level recorded in the foundation’s history. This strong level of support reflects donors’ trust in Community Foundation Boulder County to identify community needs, develop strategic philanthropic initiatives, and direct resources where they can have the greatest impact.
Helpfulness of CFBC Resources to Achieve Donors’ Goals
Donors find a few of CFBC’s resources to be even more valuable than in the past. Their ratings for the helpfulness of both the community foundation’s events/educational programs and its donor portal in achieving their giving goals now place the community foundation in the top 10 percent of CEP’s dataset, with the latter representing a significant increase since 2021.
Responsiveness of CFBC Staff
In open-ended comments, some donors praise their engagement with the community foundation staff, describing them as “dedicated,” “super responsive,” and “helpful.” Donors also rate significantly higher than in 2021 for staff responsiveness when they have a question or need assistance, with an average that now places CFBC in the top quintile of CEP’s dataset.
Donor Suggestions
In donors’ written feedback, just under half of all suggestions (45%) mention communications. Most often, donors would like more specific information about the foundation’s impact, fund structures and types, and broader financial strategy.
CFBC’s Fee Structure & Investment Approach
Donor feedback indicates an opportunity to strengthen understanding and confidence in both our fee structure and investment approach. While a majority of donors report satisfaction with fees (57%) and nearly half report satisfaction with investment strategy and performance (49%), these results suggest that many donors would benefit from additional education and communication about the value foundation fees provide and how they support our mission and improve donor services. The results also suggest increased transparency around how investments are managed to achieve long-term philanthropic impact.
Communicating CFBC’s Impact
Donors rate the community foundation below the median in effectively communicating its impact on the Boulder County community. Compared with peer organizations in CEP’s dataset, CFBC’s score places it in the second-lowest quintile, highlighting an opportunity to strengthen impact communications.
CFBC’s Discretionary Work
24% of donors’ suggestions relate to the community foundation’s discretionary work, suggesting that the foundation should engage and prioritize activities, grant making, and community leadership efforts that advance strategic priorities identified by the foundation.
Since 2021, donor satisfaction has increased in key areas related to community impact, including donors’ understanding of local nonprofit organizations and confidence in the foundation’s ability to address important community issues. These results demonstrate growing trust in the foundation’s expertise and leadership, while also highlighting an opportunity to expand discretionary and community-directed grantmaking that addresses emerging needs and creates lasting impact.
Communicating Charitable Goals with CFBC Staff
More than half of donor-advised fund holders report having communicated their personal charitable goals to community foundation staff. That stands in contrast to donors over $1000 of whom only 19% of whom report having had similar conversations. We view this as an opportunity to broaden our discussions with fund holders and to be more intentional when discussing charitable goals with donors who do not hold funds with us.
Turning Feedback Into Action
These insights have informed our strategic planning process and will serve as a catalyst for continuous improvement.
Overall, we feel affirmed by these results. There is strong alignment between donors and staff regarding both Community Foundation Boulder County’s strengths and the opportunities for growth ahead. We are encouraged that many of the areas identified for improvement are already priorities within our organization and strategic planning.
Work In Motion
In the past 18 months, Community Foundation Boulder County has identified and rolled out three specific initiatives that advance local impact through our discretionary work: the Resilience Fund, the All In, Boulder County campaign, and efforts to address housing affordability across our region.
Resilience Fund
In response to the results of the Boulder County Nonprofit Survey conducted in 2025 and 2026, Community Foundation Boulder County launched the Resilience Fund to support local nonprofits with education, technical assistance, and financial support. The purpose of the survey was to understand how current or anticipated funding shifts, executive orders, and policy changes have or may affect our local nonprofit sector. Thanks to supporters of the Resilience Fund we’ve been able to provide an all-day training in collaboration with the Colorado Nonprofit Association for nonprofits focused on selfcare and fundraising; introduce a Somos El Poder Cohort designed to strengthen the fundraising capacity of Latino/a-led and Latino/a-serving nonprofits; and release Collaboration Grants to support Boulder County nonprofits and fiscally sponsored projects in assessing the feasibility of establishing collaborations that result in more organizational efficiencies. Collaboration Grants funding is a combined effort of Boulder County Arts Alliance, the City of Boulder Office of Arts and Culture, and Community Foundation Boulder County.
All In, Boulder County
From May 1-15, 2026, Community Foundation Boulder County promoted two weeks of generosity. All funds raised in May were distributed through the Community Trust, CFBC’s flagship grantmaking fund, in 2026. Thanks to the community’s generosity, the community foundation distributed $574,750 to support the community-driven, local organizations that make a difference throughout Boulder County. This campaign increased both the total number of grants and average grant amounts our volunteer committees were able to distribute in 2026.
Housing Affordability
Housing affordability is one initiative that the foundation will be pressing into over the next several years. Boulder County’s high cost of living makes affordable housing an urgent need. CFBC’s Housing Initiative will align with the goal established by the Boulder County Regional Housing Plan that 12% of the housing inventory will be permanently affordable to low, moderate, and middle-income households by 2035. The foundation will be engaging in a variety of activities over the next couple of years including, but not limited to coordination and cohort building, awareness raising, and funding analysis. June of this year the foundation hired Rodolfo Rodriguez, Director of Housing Initiatives, who will be dedicated full-time to addressing the housing affordability crisis in Boulder County.
5-Year Impact Report
The foundation is also in the process of creating a 5-year Impact Report for release later this year. The report will take a longitudinal view of the work that has taken place over the last 5 years. The report will include data on DAF and discretionary grantmaking, highlight outcomes from programs like Leadership Fellows Boulder County and 15 Forever, show the impact of our work with disaster response funds like the Boulder County Crisis Fund (King Soopers Shooting) to the Boulder County Wildfire Fund (Marshall Fire) and share stories of generosity like the creation of the BIPOC women’s fund.
Together, we’ve accomplished a lot over the last 5 years, and we’re excited to share the impact of that work in our 5-year report. In the future, the foundation aims to better communicate its impact and provide supporters with a clear view of the difference their philanthropy is making across Boulder County.
What’s Next?
The feedback from the CEP survey helped us identify other areas where we can do better. We’ve already identified opportunities to operationalize those areas for improvement and have incorporated that work into the work of our strategic plan. We look forward to focusing on the following areas for improvement to help create a better experience for our DAF holders and Donors:
• Equip staff with tools to better document and understand donors’ charitable goals to help their philanthropy go even further.
• Institute periodic fund holder investment education and review meetings to enhance the value of our services and build trust in our investment approach.
• Expand discretionary and community-directed grantmaking to amplify our work across Boulder County.
• Expand Impact storytelling and highlight the clear difference CFBC’s work is having on the Boulder County community.
Thank you to all the fund holders and donors who provided feedback through the Center for Effective Philanthropy Survey earlier this year. Your responses have, and will continue to inform Community Foundation Boulder County’s work moving forward.
Help us continue to learn and grow!
If there’s anything you would like to add or share after reviewing this report, we would welcome your feedback. Please reach out to philanthropicservices@commfound.org to share your thoughts or connect with a staff member.
