The Community Foundation Playbook
Your Community Is Looking for Leadership. Here’s How to Communicate It.
Community foundations collectively oversee $54.9 billion in donor-advised funds. Right now, donors are watching the news and wondering how to help. Your grantees are scrambling. Your community needs a strategic voice.
This free playbook gives you the communications frameworks to lead.
What’s inside?
4 Critical Communications Shifts — Move from grantmaker to community leader, from annual reporting to real-time storytelling.
7 Donor Messaging Frameworks — Ready-to-use language for DAF holders, corporate partners, board members, and the community.
Grantee Communications Toolkit — Help your grantees shift from emergency appeals to strategic positioning — multiplying every grant dollar.
Pooled Fund Launch Playbook — Step-by-step guide with real examples from Alaska, Washington DC, and San Diego.
12-Month Editorial Calendar — Plan your messaging cadence from crisis response through long-term positioning.
Self-Assessment — 12 questions to identify your foundation’s highest-leverage communications opportunities.
About
I’m Sarah Avery Rice, founder of Bleeding Heart Creative. For 20+ years, I’ve helped environmental and social justice nonprofits secure funding, build audiences, and amplify their missions. I work with community foundations because local philanthropy is the most resilient infrastructure a community can build.
“Sarah's efforts on our behalf have been outstanding. She has relentlessly pushed our agenda, offered sound advice and guidance and has proven to be invaluable...”
Ed Toth, Executive Director, MARSB
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