About Us

Taos Community Foundation is a non-profit, community corporation created by and for the people of Taos and western Colfax counties that builds on the vision of making a difference in community for today and tomorrow.

We are here to help our donors make a positive impact in our community. Generating opportunity is one of the challenges of TCF.  We seek to create opportunity and to light the spark of imagination within people who want to realize their vision of our community.

We believe that the well-being of each citizen is connected to that of every other and that the vitality of our community is determined by the quality of those connections.

Our Purpose is to join with others to strengthen our community, in measurable and sustainable ways, for the benefit of all citizens.
We are committed to being an effective resource developer, a responsible steward of resources, an active grant maker and convener addressing community needs, and a constructive catalyst for change to better serve our community.

Our Values are:
Integrity- honesty, truth, responsibility and accountability
Compassion- respect, understanding and caring
Congruence- walking our talk
Permanence- stability

The mission of TCF is to enhance the Quality of Life in the communities we serve by encouraging permanent charitable giving to meet the needs of present and future generations.
We do this by initiating projects and coordinating resources that promote healthy and safe community.
Established in 1998, the Taos Community Foundation is one of more than 650 community foundations in the United States today. We serve Taos and western Colfax counties, offering people a variety of ways to touch our community through giving.
Since 1999 Taos Community Foundation has raised more than 4.5 million dollars. Of that amount more than $1 million has been awarded to more than one hundred local nonprofits in grants to address local needs, with another $3,000,000 in endowed assets. TCF pools the contributions of many individuals and businesses, which in turn enables more strategic funding to non-profits working to make a difference and effect change.
Rural community foundations are unique in their ability to see and influence a wide and interconnected array of rural community and economic development challenges and opportunities.

Why are we unique? The whole picture...
Unlike nonprofits that focus exclusively on one area of community and economic development, TCF supports a range of community activities. As a result, TCF often sees overlooked community connections—the whole that is greater than the sum of its many parts.

Strategic flexibility
Along with this vision, TCF can offer flexibility to respond at the right time in the right way to a community challenge, predicting when a strategic convening, a small grant or key collaboration might result in positive, systemic community change.

Inclusive & Non-partisan
TCF is one of only a few institutions whose job it is to bring diverse, sometimes divergent community members together in a neutral setting.

The Regional Resource
Because TCF can match charitable resources with community opportunities, we can handle all sides of a program transaction, from convening around a challenge, to providing donor services to establish funding streams, to leveraging resources (outside foundations, government, business), to building the capacity of organizations to do the work.

Permanence.
TCF builds permanent endowed funds from local donors dedicated to the geographic area we serve. Our community can trust that TCF will neither fly by night nor fade away. We are here to stay.

TCF WORKS WITH DONORS
Taos Community Foundation helps donors give, and keeps them informed of the impact of their giving. Anyone with a love of humankind and a willingness to be a philanthropist can invest with the Foundation to provide charitable donations for the issues they are passionate about. We encourage you to “weave a charitable legacy” for the community.

The ability to share with the future is not restricted to the very wealthy. Anyone can leave something behind that will benefit the generations to come. The sale of a house or a gift of land can benefit the donors and their heirs by creating a tax advantage that enables them to pass on parts of their estate. Too often heirs inherit property and cannot hold it because of the tax liability.

An endowment fund can be constructed around one large gift or can be composed of many small gifts, and be designated to support a particular issue, such as animal welfare, youth, emergency medicine, or education.

Taos Community Foundation assists donors in making wise charitable contributions. Through personalized service and local expertise, our professional staff facilitates gifts of cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, art, life insurance, retirement accounts, trusts, or other assets to ensure that the donor will receive the maximum tax benefit. Once a gift has been granted, the donor is informed about the impact of the charitable investment.

Make a contribution to Taos Community Foundation today to insure a healthy tomorrow.