African philanthropic foundations play important roles in the development of the continent. However, our understanding of the African philanthropic foundation landscape in the philanthropic literature has been particularly limited. Drawing on a survey with philanthropic foundations in Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria, this report finds that independent foundations are the dominant type of foundations operating in the three countries. It also highlights that the establishment of philanthropic foundations is a recent phenomenon attributed to the growth in family and individual wealth creation. African philanthropic foundations give towards their own community issues rather than engage in cross-border giving. While there are legal and regulatory frameworks for regulating the activities of non-profit organisations, these frameworks are not specifically targeted at philanthropic foundations. Implications of the findings are discussed.