News & Resources > Resource Center > Philanthropy Resources

The California Wellness Foundation funds a wide variety of projects that broaden and strengthen philanthropy in California. To learn more about philanthropy in the United States, you may want to explore the following links. This resource list includes the websites of philanthropic affinity groups, national and state organizations and philanthropy publications:

General Resources

The Foundation Center's mission is to strengthen institutional philanthropy by advancing public understanding of the field and providing training in the grantseeking process. The Center's website provides comprehensive data on philanthropy in the United States and links to hundreds of sites dedicated to foundation and corporate giving in the United States and Canada.

GuideStar, produced by Philanthropic Research, Inc., provides information—including tax returns—about the operations and finances of private foundations and nonprofit organizations.

National Associations and Organizations

The websites of these organizations include information about how to start a foundation, as well as regulatory and legal guidelines for foundations.

The mission of the Council on Foundations, a national nonprofit membership association of grantmaking foundations and corporations, is to promote responsible and effective philanthropy. The Council’s website offers information about services for members as well as general information about grantmaking. Also featured is information about affinity groups, which are formal or informal associations of grantmakers that share similar interests.

Independent Sector is a national association of foundations, corporations and nonprofit organizations that focuses on tracking and promoting volunteering and charitable giving in the United States. The association’s website provides information about trends in the nonprofit sector and updates on public policy issues that impact individual donors, foundations and nonprofit organizations.

Regional Associations of Grantmakers (RAGs)

The regional associations represent foundation and corporate givers at the regional and statewide levels, focusing on issues unique to the geographies they serve.

The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers is the national association of RAGs. The Forum provides information about the activities of its individual members and collaborative efforts among RAGs, as well as links to member websites.

Northern California Grantmakers is an association of foundations, corporate contributions programs and other private grantmakers in the Bay Area.

Southern California Grantmakers is a regional association serving public, private, community, family and corporate foundations, as well as individual philanthropists in Southern California.

Media Resources

The field of philanthropy is covered by numerous media outlets, including those listed below. Some websites may require a subscription to access certain types of content.

Foundation News & Commentary, the flagship magazine of the Council on Foundations, ceased publication in September 2006 after nearly 50 years in production. Sharing stories from across the nonprofit sector, it covered issues of importance to grantmaking institutions. Issues from 1997 to 2006 are archived and available for free.

GrantWatch, a section of the bimonthly health policy journal Health Affairs, covers foundations' funding in health policy-related areas. GrantWatch includes recently announced grants awarded by funders around the nation, descriptions of publications about or funded by foundations, reporting of selected grants' results and key personnel changes, as well as essays, reports, and interviews.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy, “the newspaper of the nonprofit world,” is published bi-weekly.

The Nonprofit Times provides financial-oriented news and information for nonprofit management.

Each issue of The Nonprofit Quarterly focuses on a theme of critical importance to nonprofit leaders.

Philanthropy News Network Online is a resource for nonprofit organizations that can be easily searched by topic (“health,” “general fundraising,” “expert opinion,” etc.).

Published by the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University, Stanford Social Innovation Review presents new thinking about nonprofit management, philanthropy and corporate citizenship.

Philanthropy Journal is a resource for national news, and provides information and opinion about charitable giving.