Community Foundation of Acadiana

In 2020, Community Foundation of Acadiana (CFA) celebrated its 20th anniversary. Since its inception in 2000, CFA attained two significant milestones. At year’s end in 2017, CFA had $128 million in assets, surpassing $100 million in assets for the first time. Over the past two decades, CFA has realized cumulative gifts exceeding $279 million and has made cumulative grants of more than $143 million. The Foundation was recognized among the Top 100 community foundations in both 2012 and 2013.

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Building Legacies

CFA is a tax-exempt, donor-centric, entrepreneurial foundation whose core purpose is building legacies and improving communities by connecting generous people to the causes they care about. CFA is south Louisiana’s premier philanthropic organization benefiting our region, with a particular focus on the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Mary, St. Martin and Vermilion.

Generous donors have the opportunity to establish a charitable savings account in numerous ways. Donors establish a fund at CFA that they name and they direct. CFA’s impermanent Donor Advised Funds are easy to establish and can be done with any amount. Contributions to the fund are tax deductible. Donors use these funds to make grants to nonprofits, churches and schools, and CFA manages all of the paperwork for you. Establishing gifts and fund balances are never public, not even to the CFA Board of Directors, and the funds can benefit from the appreciation of its invested dollars.

Improving Communities

At any time or as part of a succession plan, donors transition to other permanent named funds. Such permanent named funds include Scholarship Funds; Designated Funds allocated for particular churches, schools or nonprofits; or Fields of Interest Funds that benefit particular causes or a particular parish. This is a powerful tool to build one’s legacy and memorialize or honor parents, grandparents and others. “I want my life’s work to benefit others,” said one generous donor.

Connecting Generous People

CFA’s primary service area includes the eight (8) Acadiana parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion. CFA grows and enhances philanthropy throughout this region. CFA’s most prominent civic leadership endeavors include the establishment of the Iberia Parish Foundation and St. Mary Parish Foundation, affiliate foundations of CFA. Community leaders and philanthropists in Evangeline and St. Landry Parishes are working to establish an affiliate foundation for their respective parishes.

Evangeline Parish Foundation Iberia Parish Foundation St. Mary Parish Foundation

Community Foundation of Acadiana’s Board of Directors consists of individuals that can reside in and represent each of the eight parishes of its primary service area in Acadiana including Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion. CFA seeks Directors with integrity and a variety of perspectives, opinions and experiences who are capable and committed to the Foundation’s core purpose of building legacies and improving communities by connecting generous people to the cause they care about.