CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, INC.

What CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, INC. does

Cumberland Community Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity founded in 1980 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, operating as a community foundation that manages charitable endowments, administers grants, and runs scholarship programs for Cumberland County and the surrounding Southeastern North Carolina region. The foundation holds 677 individual funds and reported total assets of $168,810,798 as of December 31, 2025, with $111M+ in grants and scholarships paid and $183.26M in total gifts received since inception. Core products include donor-advised funds, nonprofit endowment services, competitive community grants, the Robert H. Short Scholars Program, the Community Scholarship Program, the Women's Giving Circle of Cumberland County, the Summertime Kids youth program, and the annual GivingTuesday campaign supporting 82 local nonprofits.

The foundation operates a small professional staff of 9 led by President/CEO Mary M. Holmes (planned retirement March 2027), supported by a 22-member Board of Directors. Its technology stack consists of standard nonprofit foundation management systems, the MyCCF self-serve donor portal for fund balance checks and grant recommendations, online donation infrastructure hosted via Firespring, and grantinterface.com application portals for nonprofit grantees and student scholarship applicants. The foundation maintains National Standards for US Community Foundations accreditation and a Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar/Candid.

Revenue is generated through a tiered administrative fee on endowment fund balances (1% on first $500K, 0.75% on next $500K, 0.25% above $1M, plus sub-0.25% investment management pass-through) and through charitable contributions including cash, securities, real estate, life insurance, and qualified charitable distributions. The go-to-market motion is community-led, relying on donor relationships, professional advisor networks (CLE training, planned giving outreach), nonprofit endowment partnerships, and community events rather than commercial sales channels.

Name

CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, INC.

Legal name

Cumberland Community Foundation, Inc.

Website

https://cumberlandcf.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cumberland Community Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) community foundation in Fayetteville, NC that manages 677 charitable endowments, awards grants and scholarships, and supports local nonprofits and students across Cumberland County and Southeastern North Carolina.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Foundation Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Charities & Grantmaking Intermediaries (BPAGAKAE), College Access, Scholarships & Student Success Nonprofits (BPAGADAE), Endowments (Universities, Foundations, Nonprofits) (FSAAAGAC), Charitable Giving & Philanthropic Trust Advisory (FSAEAKAH)

Keywords

• Community foundation services
• Charitable endowment management
• Grantmaking and scholarships
• Donor advised funds
• Nonprofit endowment partnerships

Headquarters

HQ city

Fayetteville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Gifts: Receives charitable contributions from donors including cash, marketable securities, real estate, life insurance, and qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from IRAs. Manages endowment funds that generate investment income for grantmaking.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Cumberland Community Foundation manages charitable endowments on behalf of individual donors, families, nonprofits, and estates, enabling them to make tax-deductible gifts and recommend grants to 501(c)(3) organizations. It administers donor-advised funds, designated endowments, scholarship endowments, and nonprofit endowment partnerships, and redistributes investment returns through competitive community grants, the Robert H. Short Scholars Program, the Community Scholarship Program, and targeted programs such as the Women's Giving Circle, Summertime Kids, GivingTuesday, and the Lilly Endowment matching challenge.

Product overview

Cumberland Community Foundation, Inc. operates as a community foundation nonprofit organization offering a comprehensive suite of charitable giving and grantmaking services. The organization provides donor advised funds and nonprofit endowment management as core vehicles, supported by the MyCCF digital portal for fundholders. Its major programmatic offerings include competitive community grants, the Robert H. Short Scholars Program (up to $7,500/year), the Community Scholarship Program ($1,000-$10,000 awards), the Women's Giving Circle of Cumberland County collective giving program, and the Summertime Kids youth camp program. Additional services include the Lilly Endowment Challenge matching grants, the Mary Lynn McCree Bryan Leadership Award, nonprofit training services, and the annual GivingTuesday campaign supporting local nonprofits. The foundation serves as a philanthropic platform connecting donors, nonprofits, and community needs in Cumberland County, NC.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Grant Program Competitive grant application program that awards funding from unrestricted and field-of-interest endowments to support programs improving quality of life in Cumberland County, NC.
• Robert H. Short Scholars Program Last-dollar-in renewable scholarship program providing up to $7,500/year for up to four years at public or nonprofit private universities, funded by a $10 million estate gift from Robert H. Short.
• Community Scholarship Program Scholarship program offering awards ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 from over 60 endowment funds created by individuals, families, civic organizations, and corporations for students from southeastern North Carolina.
• MyCCF Portal Secure online portal for fundholders to check balances, submit grant recommendations, view donation and grant history, and donate to their funds (available for Donor Advised Funds).
• Women's Giving Circle of Cumberland County Collective giving program that unites individual women donors to amplify their giving capacity, awarding over $1 million in grants since 2009 to improve lives of women and children in the community.
• Summertime Kids Program Summer youth program helping children from low-income and underserved communities have life-changing summer experiences at local nonprofit camps since 1992.
• Donor Advised Funds Charitable giving tool allowing donors to establish named funds that recommend grants to charities over time, with full tax deduction and professional management.
• Nonprofit Endowment Services Endowment building partnerships with over thirty local nonprofit organizations providing training, communications tools, campaign planning, and professional fund management.
• GivingTuesday Campaign Annual community-wide day of giving campaign supporting 82 local nonprofit organizations through coordinated online donations and matching donor incentives.
• Ashton W. Lilly Fund for Philanthropy / Lilly Endowment Challenge Matching grant program that assists nonprofit organizations in building sustainable endowment support, with grants up to $50,000 matching board-adopted endowment goals.
• Nonprofit Training Services Free training program for nonprofit staff and volunteers covering nonprofit management best practices, legal updates, board development, endowment building, and fundraising.

Quantifiable outcome

• $168.8M in total assets as of December 31, 2025
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Cape Fear Botanical GardencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 September 2026GivingTuesday 2026 kickoff event host location. Cape Fear Botanical Garden serves as a key community partner for CCF events and programs.
• Fayetteville New Car Dealers AssociationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMatching donor for GivingTuesday campaigns, contributing to match funds that incentivize community giving.
• Holmes Security SystemsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMatching donor for GivingTuesday campaigns.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Greater Kansas City Community Foundation: Mid-sized community foundation operating comparable donor-advised fund, scholarship, and grantmaking programs. Useful peer for benchmarking operational metrics and donor engagement strategies at similar asset scale.
• Foundation For The Carolinas: Largest community foundation in the Carolinas, managing over $4 billion in assets across the Charlotte region. Directly comparable as a regional community foundation with donor-advised funds, scholarship programs, and nonprofit endowment services, though operating at significantly larger scale.
• Triangle Community Foundation: North Carolina community foundation serving the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill region. Comparable model of donor-advised funds, competitive grants, scholarship programs, and nonprofit capacity-building services for a regional North Carolina donor base.
• The Winston-Salem Foundation: North Carolina community foundation that served as the direct inspiration for Cumberland Community Foundation's founding (Dr. Hutaff observed its model at Bowman Gray Medical School). Operates with similar donor-advised funds, competitive grants, and scholarship programs in the Winston-Salem region.
• Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley: Regional community foundation network serving multiple counties with comparable programs in donor services, scholarships, and competitive grantmaking. Similar scale and multi-program service model.
• Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro: North Carolina community foundation serving Guilford County, comparable in size and service mix to Cumberland Community Foundation with competitive grants, donor-advised funds, scholarship programs, and women's giving initiatives.

Broad incumbents

• Fidelity Charitable: Largest commercial donor-advised fund sponsor in the US, representing direct competition for individual donors seeking donor-advised fund services. Demonstrates how commercial entities compete with community foundations for the same donor-advised fund market segment.
• The Cleveland Foundation: First community foundation in the US (1914), managing over $3 billion in assets. Operates similar programs (donor-advised funds, scholarships, competitive grants) at much larger scale, with national thought leadership on community foundation practice.
• Schwab Charitable: Major national donor-advised fund sponsor affiliated with Charles Schwab, providing an alternative channel for charitable giving that competes with community foundation donor-advised funds. Useful peer for understanding the broader DAF market dynamics CCF operates within.

Others

• Council on Foundations: National membership association of grantmaking foundations, including the body that awards the National Standards for US Community Foundations accreditation held by CCF. Provides industry standards, benchmarking, and peer learning infrastructure rather than direct services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ccfoundationvideo
• Facebookfacebook.com/CumberlandCommunityFoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cumberland-community-foundation-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION, INC.