Community philanthropy is a universal practice, found across time and borders, as individuals come together to share resources and improve their communities. These practices take many forms — from highly institutionalized community foundations to mutual aid groups and collective giving networks.
The W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair, established at the Johnson Center in 2015, was the first endowed chair in community philanthropy in the country. The Chair partners with a network of community and public foundations, collective giving groups, and national and international communities to support, research, and lift up the practice of community philanthropy.
This Chair honors the philanthropic legacy and civic investment of W.K. Kellogg, founder of the Kellogg Company and W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. The Kellogg Chair was established with a gift from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Kellogg Company 25-Year Employees’ Fund.
“Since the creation of the first community foundation in 1914, community philanthropy has expanded conceptually and geographically. It is now one of the most important global movements to expand and elevate generosity, driven by the core belief that communities are uniquely positioned to mobilize their own assets to address their own challenges.”
Jason Franklin served as the inaugural W.K. Kellogg Community Philanthropy Chair at the Johnson Center from 2015–2020. Learn more about Dr. Franklin’s research, teaching, and thought leadership during his time at the Johnson Center. Learn More
Dr. Michael Layton leads our research to explore how people come together to elevate generosity and community engagement.
Recent extraordinary growth in the number of collective giving groups and the dollars they’re moving into communities demonstrates the power of everyday philanthropy, emphasizes the importance of effective infrastructure to support the movement, and calls decisively for the further democratization of philanthropy.
Dr. Michael Layton is pursuing this research in partnership with Philanthropy Together and co-researcher Dr. Adriana Loson-Ceballos. Generous support for this project is provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Lodestar Foundation, and the Gates Foundation.
Latin America’s charitable traditions run deep, and formal institutions (such as community foundations) have made important gains in the past two decades. But sparse research and a lack of tools to support action has hindered growth. This two-part initiative, featuring Mexico- and Colombia-specific research, voices, and insights, highlights the practices and the people who are propelling philanthropy forward in the region.
This research is conducted in collaboration with Dr. Michael Moody of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and Latin America’s community foundation movement, especially Comunalia and CEMEFI. Research in Colombia is underway, in partnership with TerritoriA. The project is generously funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Foundation, and the Tinker Foundation. It has also benefited from in-kind support provided by community foundations in Mexico and by TerritoriA in Colombia.
In this limited series, May to July 2026, Dr. Layton leads an exploration of what community really means, what philanthropy was always meant to mean, and what an expanded definition of community philanthropy could make possible for a field ready to evolve. The series featured researchers, practitioners, and movement leaders doing this work around the world.
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