Mission

To help St. Louisans put charitable dollars to work making a difference in the lives of others within our region, across the nation, and around the world.

The Greater Saint Louis Community Foundation was founded in 1915; one year after the first community foundation was established in Cleveland Ohio.   Frederick H. Goff, one of Cleveland's leading bankers and lawyers, had just established a pool of charitable funds from area residents. This charitable trust was dedicated to ensuring these funds were put to effective use in line with each donor's goals now and into perpetuity.

Over the years, Goff’s community trust concept evolved into community foundations.  There are now some 700 community foundations in the United States that collectively manage more than $40 billion in assets and distribute some $2 billion a year in grants.  In addition, the legacy of Goff's vision has reached outside the United States to 37 countries with some 365 community foundations.

While each community foundation shares a common beginning, we have each evolved in response to our community needs.  In St. Louis, we've leveraged our unique capabilities as a community foundation to promote charitable giving. We remain grounded in our historic commitment to serve donors and ensure that their dollars work in line with the goals that are important to them.

Expertise

The Foundation's reputation as an unbiased, technically capable and collaborative charitable giving resource and administrator reflects the knowledge we've cultivated with decades of practical experience serving St. Louisans.  Our expertise falls into four specific areas central to effective charitable giving.

Charitable Intent – how to define and articulate what charitable giving means to donors, enabling them to be more confident in pursing their giving objectives.

Charitable Financial Planning – how to leverage tax-efficient giving tools in creative ways to achieve charitable as well as wealth and estate planning objectives for our donors.

Community Investment – how to make thoughtful investments in nonprofit organizations capable of addressing community issues in measurable ways.

Asset Stewardship – how to manage traditional and non-traditional assets in support of our donors’ short- and long-term charitable aspirations.