The urgent need to limit anthropogenic carbon emissions has led to a global initiative to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). But, designing national architectures for REDD+ that integrate local actions on forests with national-level outcomes and do so effectively, efficiently, and equitably continues to be challenging. One option to facilitate the design and implementation of REDD+ is to learn from the experience of other programs that have historically been successful in achieving sustainable tropical forest management, such as community forest management (CFM). Lessons about the factors that contribute to CFM success will be useful in designing REDD+ programs. REDD+ may also benefit from harnessing the capital developed by CFM. Of course, REDD+ and CFM represent both opportunities and challenges for each other. Identifying how CFM can contribute to REDD+ goals, and the potential benefits and risks in using CFM to achieve REDD+ implementation requires careful analysis of available evidence because the two sets of interventions do not have a complete overlap in terms of their objectives and mechanisms. In this study report, we use a thorough literature review and analysis of primary data collected by the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) research network from 57 CFM sites to achieve three objectives. First, we establish a framework for examining interactions and relationships between CFM and REDD+. Second, we empirically investigate these relationships in three countries: Nepal, Tanzania, and Bolivia. All three countries have a strong history of CFM and each is engaged in the development of REDD+ or related institutional architectures. Finally, based on the analysis of our data, we provide key recommendations for communities, project developers, policy makers, and researchers.