This paper examines the social roles of universities, and their relationships and partnerships with communities, specifically community-based nonprofit organizations, through literature review and examples from the U.S. and Japan. Recently, universities have rediscovered the importance of their service mission, and started to invest in university-community partnerships (UCPs), with the focus on service learning. Universities and communities can mutually benefit through partnerships both short- and long-term: UCPs lead to more civic engagement by universities and universities become true social institutions. An integrated and balanced approach of UCPs is proposed on the basis of components of institutional commitment and efficient and effective use of an intermediary organization.