Founded in 1988, the Cadillac Area Community Foundation is dedicated to creating a permanent philanthropic endowment for the Cadillac Area. It aims to serve the community by receiving gifts from various sources to support charitable activities through grants and technical assistance. The Foundation emphasizes philanthropy, stewardship, and leadership to enhance community resources to meet citizens' needs. It seeks to develop endowments for future challenges, offer expertise to donors, manage philanthropic funds, support local nonprofits, and act as a catalyst for philanthropy in the community.
The Cadillac Area Community Foundation awards grants in six general areas: culture and the arts, economic development, education, environment and recreation, health, and human services. The purpose of their grantmaking is to enhance the quality of life in the community through support for creative and innovative programs. Priority is given to applications that show potential impact, utilize an imaginative approach to problem-solving, involve local volunteers, demonstrate organization commitment, complement other community efforts to reduce service duplication, exhibit fiscal responsibility, could act as seed money for additional funding, ensure project sustainability, develop new solutions to community challenges, increase nonprofit effectiveness, and encourage civic development and volunteerism.