The problem of this study was the relative value and importance of perceived benefits of active foundations of public community colleges. The purposes were to identify a list of benefits; determine the importance of these benefits as perceived by presidents and foundation executive directors; assess the degree to which the level of importance of the benefits was affected by college or foundation demographics or foundation executive director characteristics; and to determine if presidents and foundation executive directors differ in their perceptions of the importance of the benefits. Survey instruments were mailed to presidents and foundation executive directors of colleges determined to have active foundations. Both instruments contained seven categories listing potential benefits to the community colleges of an active foundation. The foundation executive directors' instruments also requested college and foundation demographic data. Respondents were asked to rate the benefits according to their level of importance. Analysis of variance tests were performed to determine whether the categories of benefits were affected by any of the demographic data, when a level of significance emerged, a Scheffe' test was performed to determine the source of significance. Major findings were that the most important single benefit to the community colleges of active foundations is the provision of student scholarships. The "Public Relations/Political Influence" role of the active foundation is the most important category of benefits. The more fund-raising activities held and the greater the amount of contributions, the more positively community college administrators felt about the role of their active foundations in terms of external relations. Highly experienced foundation executive directors were more positive about the importance of the public relations role of their active foundations than were their inexperienced counterparts. The major conclusion of this study was that community colleges benefit from having active foundations, both monetarily and through the role of the foundation in enhancing the college's image.