Austin is joining the nation in celebrating its community foundation.

From Nov. 12 to 18, the Austin Area Foundation will join more than 750 community foundations across America to celebrate Community Foundation Week.

For more than 25 years, the effort has raised awareness about the increasingly important role of these philanthropic organizations in fostering local collaboration and innovation to address persistent civic and economic challenges.

“Community foundations impact lives, solve problems, and improve futures,”AAF Executive Director Jeff Baldus said in a press release. “As many residents grapple with limited resources and a growing need for services, we are more determined than ever to bring our community partners together to find innovative and effective solutions for some of our most challenging social problems.”

Community foundations are independent, public entities that steward philanthropic resources from institutional and individual donors to local nonprofits that are the heart of strong, vibrant communities.

Community foundations represent one of the fastest-growing forms of philanthropy. Every state in the U.S. is home to at least one community foundation — large and small, urban and rural — working to advance solutions on a wide range of social issues.

Community Foundation Week was created in 1989 by former president George H.W. Bush and recognizes the work of community foundations throughout America and their collaborative approach to working with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address community problems.