Baton Rouge Area Foundation

What Baton Rouge Area Foundation does

Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF) is a 501(c)(3) community foundation founded in 1964 and headquartered at 451 Florida Street in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It serves as the central philanthropic and civic convener for the greater Baton Rouge region and across south Louisiana, uniting individual donors, families, corporations, professional advisors, and nonprofit organizations around community-impact work in education, economic prosperity, health, quality of life, public safety, and regional resilience. BRAF administers more than 500 charitable funds on behalf of donors, including donor-advised funds ($10,000 minimum), organization funds, agency funds, and supporting organizations ($1 million asset minimum) that together represent roughly $1.1 billion in leveraged funding.

The foundation operates with a small staff (11–50 employees, ~30 named) and a $5.5M operating budget, generating revenue through recurring administrative fees on charitable accounts, $500/year nonprofit membership dues, investment returns on an endowed portfolio managed by Goldman Sachs, and donor contributions. Its technology stack includes an iPhiView-powered donor portal, the Opportunity Data Project co-developed with Common Good Labs for neighborhood-level data science, and CityStats data dashboards. The foundation runs community programs such as the Center for Nonprofit Excellence (established 2023), the BRAF Fellows program, the Giving Collective of 13–14 supporting organizations, the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and the John W. Barton Sr. Awards for Nonprofit Management, alongside disaster-response and recovery initiatives. In April 2026, BRAF assumed ownership of The Newtron Group—an electrical construction company generating over $1 billion in annual revenue—through the Newton B. Thomas Support Foundation, marking a significant expansion of the foundation's organizational footprint into operating businesses.

Name

Baton Rouge Area Foundation

Legal name

Baton Rouge Area Foundation

Website

https://braf.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1964

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Baton Rouge Area Foundation is a 501(c)(3) community foundation founded in 1964 that administers 500+ charitable funds, serves 475+ nonprofit members, and convenes donors, families, and corporations to drive philanthropic and civic impact across south Louisiana.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Foundation Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Capacity Building & Nonprofit Infrastructure Funders (BPAGAKAO)

Keywords

• Community foundation services
• Donor-advised fund administration
• Philanthropic grantmaking
• Nonprofit capacity building
• Charitable fund management

Headquarters

HQ city

Baton Rouge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Charitable fund administrative fees: Recurring fees charged for managing donor-advised funds, organization funds, and agency funds on the 500+ charitable accounts held with BRAF.
2. Membership dues: Annual nonprofit membership dues of $500/year supporting the Center for Nonprofit Excellence and member benefits.
3. Investment returns: Returns on the endowed investment portfolio managed by Goldman Sachs, supporting grantmaking and operations.
4. Contributions and grants received: Donations from individuals, families, and corporate donors; $70M contributed by donors in 2025 alone.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation is a community foundation that administers donor-advised funds, supporting organizations, and organization funds on behalf of individual, family, and corporate donors. It invests an endowed portfolio under professional management and distributes grants to roughly 1,000 regional nonprofits annually while operating the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, the BRAF Fellows program, and the Giving Collective of supporting organizations to deliver capacity-building, civic convening, and disaster-response services across South Louisiana.

Product overview

No product overview could be derived from the available source material. The provided input contained analytical commentary rather than attributable source passages with resolvable source IDs, so no specific products, services, programs, or modules can be reliably extracted for Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Forum 225: Young professionals' organization in the capital region (evolved from Forum 35 established in 1994).
• Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNPE)
• Camille Coates Environmental Impact Fund
• Community Safety Impact Fund
• Education Impact Fund
• Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund
• Capital Area First Responders Fund
• East Baton Rouge First Responders Fund
• Giving Store
• CityStats
• Opportunity Data Project (ODP)
• Currents
• Cox Charities Fund
• Credit Bureau of Baton Rouge Foundation
• E.J. and Marjory B. Ourso Family Foundation
• Turner Industries Fund

Products and services

• Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) Charitable giving vehicle for individual and family donors with a $10,000 minimum, managed by BRAF with professional investment oversight and recurring administrative fees.
• The Giving Collective (Supporting Organizations) Network of 13 (soon 14) supporting organizations pooling administration, investment management, governance, and back-office services under BRAF; $1 million minimum asset threshold.
• Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNPE) Capacity-building, consulting, and management resources program for local nonprofits, including fellowships, training, and the Barton Awards for Excellence in Nonprofit Management.
• BRAF Impact Grants (Competitive Grants)

Quantifiable outcome

• $70 million contributed by donors in 2025
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record.

• Common Good LabsStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-development partner on the Opportunity Data Project, the data-science initiative underpinning BRAF's evidence-based community programs including Resilient BR.
• Huey and Angelina Wilson FoundationStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner on early-childhood education initiatives in the Baton Rouge region.
• Foundation for East Baton Rouge Parish School SystemStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-development partner on education initiatives, including the early childhood education program.
• Cox Communications (Cox Charities)GTM or Marketing PartnerOperates the Cox Charities Fund with BRAF to direct corporate philanthropy into the region.
• SasakiImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPlanning and design consultant supporting Plan Baton Rouge III and the Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation.
• DeltaresStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetherlands-based water and subsurface specialist whose work informed the founding of The Water Institute of the Gulf alongside BRAF.
• Northshore Community FoundationStrategic or Co-development PartnerSub-community foundation operating as a supporting organization within BRAF's Giving Collective.
• Community Foundation of Southwest LouisianaStrategic or Co-development PartnerSub-community foundation operating as a supporting organization within BRAF's Giving Collective.
• LRA Support FoundationStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting organization partner within BRAF's Giving Collective network.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• The Cleveland Foundation: The Cleveland Foundation is among the oldest and largest U.S. community foundations (founded 1914, $2B+ AUM) with a comparable operating model: donor-advised funds, competitive grants, civic leadership initiatives, and a strong regional focus. BRAF explicitly references being "among the largest community foundations" and pursues the same integrated grantmaking-plus-civic-convening playbook.
• Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo: Mid-to-large regional community foundation offering donor-advised funds, competitive grantmaking, and nonprofit sector support — directly comparable in operating model, although in a different region. Often cited alongside BRAF in community-foundation peer benchmarking.
• Greater Houston Community Foundation: Houston's leading community foundation with comparable scale and a similar Gulf Coast disaster-response orientation (Harvey response). Operates donor-advised funds, competitive grants, and nonprofit capacity-building — directly parallel to BRAF's Baton Rouge model.

Emerging players

• Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana: Another sub-regional Louisiana community foundation in BRAF's Giving Collective. Operates a similar donor-advised fund and grantmaking model in the Lake Charles / SW Louisiana region, with BRAF providing shared services.
• Northshore Community Foundation: Smaller sub-regional community foundation that operates as a supporting organization within BRAF's Giving Collective. Same mission and donor-advised fund model at smaller scale, with BRAF providing back-office infrastructure — a tight organizational peer.

Broad incumbents

• The Chicago Community Trust: One of the largest U.S. community foundations (founded 1915, multi-billion AUM) operating donor-advised funds, regional grantmaking, and civic leadership. BRAF is smaller but pursues the same integrated model, making CCT a useful scale-benchmark peer.
• The San Francisco Foundation: Large regional community foundation with donor-advised funds, civic leadership initiatives, and a comparable multi-decade operating history. Useful as a scale and program-mix benchmark for BRAF.
• Schwab Charitable: Major national DAF sponsor with comparable giving-account structure. Represents the primary alternative to community foundation donor-advised funds for high-net-worth donors in the U.S.
• Fidelity Charitable: The largest national donor-advised fund sponsor in the U.S., serving as a direct competitor for high-net-worth donor-advised fund dollars. Represents the largest competitive threat to community foundations like BRAF.

Regional players

• Foundation for Louisiana: Louisiana-focused place-based foundation that operates as a state-level peer to BRAF. Both target Louisiana communities and pursue similar civic-leadership and equity-oriented grantmaking strategies, though FFL's footprint is statewide versus BRAF's regional base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BRFdn
• Facebookfacebook.com/BRAF1964
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1388304

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Baton Rouge Area Foundation