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    Mid-South Giving Trends

    This week, the Community Foundation hosted our Annual Meeting, where we shared donor stories and the financial results of our fiscal year, which ended in April. So, what did our results demonstrate about Mid-South giving?

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    Hospitality Hub Creates Path out of Homelessness

    The site of the old vehicle inspection station on Washington Avenue is now a beacon of hope and healing for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. It’s the home of The Hospitality Hub, which represents not only the best human-centric case work in the country, but also impressive trauma-informed design.

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    Supporting Resident Participation and Leadership

    May 16 is National Do Something Good for your Neighbor Day. It’s a great time to reflect on the power of grassroots resident engagement that makes our neighborhoods stronger.

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    Naturally Nurtured Birth Services: Helping New Mothers Thrive

    Naturally Nurtured Birth Services amplifies the voices of pregnant women and improves black maternal health in our community by providing doula care and offering culturally appropriate support to those at risk of poor outcomes.

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    How Values Drive Giving: Annual Meeting 2023

    Join us on Tuesday, May 23, at the Memphis Botanic Garden, for an evening of fun and impact!

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    Tornado Relief

    Support recovery efforts in the aftermath of devastating tornadoes across the Southeast.

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    An Opportunity for Expansion to Serve Veterans

    Since 1987, Alpha Omega has specialized in providing housing and supportive services—including counseling and job training—to homeless and disabled veterans with a goal of fully reintegrating them with family and community. It has an incredibly exciting project on the horizon, one that needs community support.

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    A Holistic Approach to Combating Poverty

    In our recent panel event, What’s Driving Poverty and how do we change the roadmap?, local experts in social services, health, and housing emphasized the importance of an integrated approach to create better, more sustainable outcomes.

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    National Volunteer Week

    Giving is most rewarding when it is connected to your personal values. To apply a values-based approach to volunteering, take time to identify the causes you are passionate about, and then research available service opportunities.

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    National Fair Housing Month

    There’s a reason April is National Fair Housing Month. Decent housing for all was a critical pillar of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s platform. Discover nonprofit organizations at LIVEGIVEmidsouth.org help fight housing discrimination.

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    International Transgender Day of Visibility

    March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility, dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by them. In honor , we are highlighting organizations that specifically offer services for our local transgender or gender nonconforming community.

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    National Agriculture Week: Combating Food Deserts

    Through urban farming, several local organizations are combating food deserts, or areas where it’s difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. We highlight Landmark Training Development Company and others in honor of National Agriculture Week.

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    Women’s Foundation Making History

    March is Women’s History Month, and today we’re lifting up the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis. Twenty-seven years strong, the Women’s Foundation encourages philanthropy and fosters leadership among women and supports programs that enable women and children to reach their full potential.

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    Scholarship opportunities

    At the Community Foundation, we’re grateful that so many donors chose to create scholarship funds to honor a different person, profession, school, or educational goal. The deadline for most scholarships is March 31.

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    Tax Prep & Charitable Giving

    CPA Charlotte Henderson of Reynolds Bone & Griesbeck encourages some tax-advantaged giving strategies in your charitable planning.

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    Changing the Poverty Roadmap Panel

    Join us Thursday, Feb. 23, to hear from panelists about innovative ways that they - and we together - can create opportunity and break the cycle of poverty.

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    Belinda & Calvin Anderson: Living a Family Legacy

    Retired business executives Belinda and Calvin Anderson are extraordinary contributors in the Memphis community, and part of a multi-generational legacy of giving.

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    Sonia Walker: Leaving a Community Legacy

    When thinking about leaving a legacy, retired pastor Sonia Walker invited others to help create a collective impact through values-based community investment.

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    Scholarship opportunity for HBCU students

    The City Council earmarked $1 million for scholarships for students who are graduating or have graduated from a high school located in Memphis and Shelby County and are attending or will attend an accredited historically Black college or university.

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    What is Nonprofit Capacity Building?

    Nonprofit capacity building helps strengthen an organization’s core operations and build efficiencies in how they work. These "administrative costs" often improve the quality of a nonprofit’s programs and ultimately make them more effective at serving clients and fulfilling their mission.

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    2022 Professional Advisor Referrals

    Thank you to the professional advisors who directed their clients to the Community Foundation in 2022 and helped them discover a place where giving does more good.

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    Scholarship opportunity for HBCU students

    One hundred scholarships, totaling $500,000, ranging from $2,500 to $15,000, are available for the 2023-24 academic year to students who are graduating or have graduated from a high school located in Memphis and Shelby County and are attending or will attend an accredited HBCU.

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    GiVE 365 grant application process open

    GiVE 365, our dollar-a-day giving circle, is accepting grant proposals through Feb. 10 advancing the theme Reppin' Memphis: programs that reimagine resident participation and leadership in Memphis neighborhoods.

    Learn More & Apply

    Accepting Scholarship Applications

    The Community Foundation is proud to offer more than $650,000 in 30 categories in scholarship funds to students from the Memphis area. Most applications are due by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 31. Applications for adult learners are due by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 1.

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    In the News: Veronica Jamison

    Vice President of Donor Services Veronica Jamison was included on 4Memphis Magazine's list of five local change-makers you should know about.

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    Trust-Based Philanthropy

    Individual givers can adopt the principles of trust-based philanthropy. It is about developing more equitable relationships with nonprofits, trusting them to be the experts in how to fulfill their work, and eliminating burdensome application and reporting hoops.

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    Increasing Board Diversity

    Do you serve on the board of a nonprofit that would like to be more diverse and is looking for guidance to authentically and sustainably evolve your volunteer leadership? Register for the free Board Diversity Learning Lab.

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    Accepting Committee Nominations

    The Community Foundation is accepting nominations to our grant committees through March. Nominate to volunteer and help direct hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual giving to local nonprofits through the FOREVER Funds at the Community Foundation.

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    Philanthropic New Year's Resolutions

    Welcome to 2023! We checked in with Jay Healy of Beacon Pointe Advisors on philanthropic New Year’s resolutions. If charitable giving is your intent, consider setting your goals in advance and working throughout the year to achieve them.

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    Looking back, looking forward

    As 2022 ends, this week’s segment marks a full year that we’ve been bringing you the Greater Giving Moment. Looking with optimism to 2023 and to sharing more with you about strengthening this community through philanthropy.

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    Honoring the Walkers' legacy

    Friends and family are contributing to the Sonia Louden Walker and Walter L. Walker Legacy Fund to honor their legacy and support community grantmaking through the FOREVER Funds at the Community Foundation.

    Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants

    Through the FOREVER Funds, the Community Foundation awarded $264,442 to 32 grantees in our Nonprofit Capacity Building grant round.

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    Capacity Building to Save Lives

    Nonprofit Capacity Building grantee Good Shepherd Pharmacy offers a lifeline for cancer patients. Its RemediChain program enables it to get donated chemotherapy drugs to people who would not otherwise be able to afford their cancer treatments.

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    National Wear Your Pearls Day: Dress for Success Memphis

    December 15 is National Wear Your Pearls Day, which may feel a little silly but speaks to jewelry or clothes’ ability to empower women. No one may know this better than Dress for Success Memphis, which equips women with professional attire and skills training to help them enter the workforce.

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    Year-End Giving Information

    See dates and deadline for year-end giving and granting through your donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation. Please note that in order for nonprofit recipients to receive grant checks in 2022, your grant recommendations should be made by noon on Wednesday, December 28.

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    Rethinking the Overhead Myth

    Some donors think the more money spent on direct programs and services, the more effective organizations are. However, it may be time to rethink whether a nonprofit is worthy of a donor’s dollars by merely calculating the share of its budget spent on overhead.

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    World AIDS Day: Friends for Life Toy Drive

    One way to help Friends For Life create happiness on World AIDS Day and this holiday season is to participate in its annual Toy Drive. Through December 16, it’s accepting monetary donations to show love for its families affected by HIV/AIDS.

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    Bob Fockler interviewed on the Driven By podcast

    Community Foundation president Bob Fockler recently sat down with Driven By podcaster Sam Coates for a wide-ranging interview covering his own journey, philanthropic stewardship, and generational giving

    Tune In

    Nonprofit Board Diversity Learning Lab

    Register for the free Board Diversity Learning Lab, hosted by Momentum Nonprofit Partners and sponsored by the Community Foundation.

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    Protecting Communities

    (Sept. 29, 2022) Explore the LIVEGIVEmidsouth.org profiles of nonprofits funded by our GiVE 365 giving circle that are working in violence prevention and services to victims of crime.

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    Celebrating Black Philanthropy Month

    (Aug. 1, 2022) Since 2011, Black Philanthropy Month has been observed annually in August to celebrate and amplify Black giving. It is a month-long social action campaign designed to inform, inspire, and invest in Black philanthropic and funding equity. We are proud to be part of the movement and to share a resource hub to learn more and celebrate with us.

    Visit the Resource Hub

    Amplifying Black Philanthropy Month

    (Aug. 1, 2022) Community Foundation staff members Veronica Jamison and Aerial Ozuzu share the importance of Black Philanthropy Month.

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    An Inspired Legacy of Giving

    (Aug. 1, 2022) Throughout decades of philanthropy and service, Belinda and Calvin Anderson have built a legacy that has improved amenities and quality of life for so many in the Mid-South.

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    Building Self-Sufficiency, Together

    (Aug. 1, 2022) The Philanthropic Black Women of Memphis create opportunities and build self-sufficiency for youth through a donor-advised fund.

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    A Winning Strategy

    (Aug. 1, 2022) Though they come to philanthropy through different paths, Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins and his wife, Chantall, are aligned in their commitment to their new community. They are both interested in being hands-on donors, giving not only financially but also with their time. It’s a dedication born of family legacies of service and personal passions.

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    Charitable ROI

    (Aug. 1, 2022) The 2021 partial sale of Monogram Foods, a manufacturer and marketer of packaged foods, created a handsome return for Monogram’s investors—and created a way for them to be even more charitable in their communities.

    Supporting Women & Families

    (July 13, 2022) Explore the LIVEGIVEmidsouth.org profiles of several strong, effective nonprofit organizations that meet the unique needs of women and families across our community.

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    Elmwood Cemetery unveils new database for records searches

    (June 28, 2022) After several years, and setbacks from a global pandemic, Elmwood Cemetery has officially released their public database. The project was partially funded by a Community Foundation of Memphis Strengthening Nonprofits grant. The Commercial Appeal reports.

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    Hallie Peyton and Russ Wigginton join Board of Governors

    (June 8, 2022) Hallie Peyton and Russ Wigginton are the two newest additions to the Community Foundation's Board of Governors.

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    Memphis cements generous reputation during pandemic

    (May 12, 2022) Memphis already had a reputation for being one of the nation’s most generous cities. But during the pandemic, giving per capita soared, moving Memphis from No. 16 to No. 8 on the annual Columbus Survey of giving through local community foundations. The Daily Memphian reports.

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    cityCURRENT hosts Community Foundation president Bob Fockler on The SPARK

    (May 24, 2022) The SPARK host Jeremy C. Park interviews Bob Fockler about the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis: an organization working with donors, professional advisors, and nonprofits to help strengthen our community through strategic philanthropy and community giving.

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    Bluff City Life Hosts Community Foundation president Bob Fockler

    (Apr. 13, 2022) Action News 5 hosted our president, Bob Fockler, on its show Bluff City Life. He got to share about the Mid-South COVID-19 Regional Response Fund—a community-centered, community-funded effort to help nonprofits and neighbors in need.

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    Community Foundation gives $14.5 million in grant to organizations impacted by COVID-19

    (Mar. 24, 2022) The Mid-South COVID-19 Regional Response Fund, a philanthropic response to the pandemic created by the Community Foundation in 2020, donated more than $14.5 million to organizations serving those most impacted by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Commercial Appeal reports.

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    Best Foot Forward

    (Mar. 1, 2022) Funding from the Mid-South COVID-19 Regional Response Fund helped prepare Dress for Success Memphis for a brighter future, enabling it to empower women to achieve economic independence.

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    The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis is a champ in funding racial equity

    (Oct. 18, 2021) Commercial Appeal columnist Tonyaa Weathersbee reports that the Philanthropy Initiative for Racial Equity recently named the Community Foundation as one of the nation’s top 20 charitable organizations funding work geared toward fixing inequality.

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    Community Foundation Nationally Named as a Top 20 Funder Focused on Racial Equity

    (Oct. 14, 2021) The Philanthropy Initiative for Racial Equality’s (PRE’s) latest report on charitable giving was recently released, and the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis is listed among the Top 20 Funders of Racial Equality Work.

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    “To change one person”: a conversation with donor Mario Ray

    (Aug. 25, 2021)  In 2019, Teresa and Mario Ray established the Charles E. Howard Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation to honor the memory of his beloved father-in-law. Read an interview with Dr. Ray covering his professional and philanthropic journey, the special legacy of Charles Howard, and Ray's plans to inspire and support BIPOC entrepreneurs.

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    Preserving Memphis's Musical Heritage

    (June 9, 2021) While it waits for its 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, the Memphis Listening Lab, led by a group of local music professionals, is using a project fund at the Community Foundation to accept donations and create a listening facility, library, and offices at Crosstown Concourse that opened in June 2021.

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    Connecting Purpose to Impact

    (June 9, 2021) There are about as many stories about how our donors came to the Community Foundation as there are donors. Pooja and Kush Shah—who, respectively, serve on our Board of Governors and Strengthening Nonprofits committee—got involved with the Community Foundation by joining GiVE 365 in 2011.

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    Empowering Parents During Crisis

    (June 9, 2021) Gestalt Community Schools was awarded $50,000 in operating support from the Mid-South COVID-19 Regional Response Fund in fall 2020, a grant that helped the charter school operator build on momentum that the Community Foundation had already helped it create.

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    A plan to ease inequities

    (Jun. 7, 2021) The Community Foundation is extremely proud to be part of the partnership, led by Seeding Success and with the support of Blue Meridian Partners, that has the audacious, transformational goal to improve economic and social mobility across our community. The Commercial Appeal reports.

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    COVID-19 revealed Memphians' generosity. The Community Foundation will make it forever

    (May 13, 2021) The FOREVER Funds will generate income to not only deal with unprecedented crises such as COVID-19, but for other community needs that aren’t covered by some of the donor funds it manages. The Commercial Appeal columnist Tonyaa Weathersbee reports.

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    Guest column: Memphians answer the philanthropic call

    (Apr. 26, 2021) While Memphians continue to demonstrate their characteristic extraordinary generosity, Memphis philanthropy tracks with national trends—with more unrestricted giving and increased support to agencies that are minority-led and serve their most disadvantaged neighbors. Read more from our president, Bob Fockler, in the Memphis Business Journal.

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    Contributing to Dr. King's legacy

    (Jan. 18, 2021) As our nation, our Foundation, and the National Civil Rights Museum commemorate the birthday and lasting legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., outgoing Community Foundation Board chair Terri Lee Freeman, president of the Civil Rights Museum, shares her thoughts on the Community Foundation's recent progress and its role in continuing Dr. King's vision become reality in Memphis and the Mid-South.

    Read her essay

    Lynching Sites Project Shines Light on History

    (Nov. 13, 2020) The Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, whose fund is managed at the Community Foundation, focuses on meaningful conversation, research, and physical memorials of lynchings in Shelby County. Learn more about this vital work.

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    LeMoyne-Owen College named beneficiary of $40 million endowment at the Community Foundation

    (July 2, 2020) LeMoyne-Owen College, the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Memphis, Tennessee, has been named the beneficiary of an endowment of $40 million, one of the largest gifts to any HBCU and the largest for the school in its 158-year history. The endowment was created from assets from the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis.

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    Board Adopts New Community Investment Principles

    (Apr. 9, 2020) The Board of Governors approved a new Vision for the Mid-South and Values for Investing, a set of community investment principles—developed with the participation of dozens of diverse stakeholders— that will guide the Community Foundation's discretionary grantmaking.

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    Elmwood Cemetery digitizes massive archives for public use

    (Feb. 18, 2020) The Memphis Business Journal reports that Elmwood Cemetery will integrate its 130,000+ file folders into an online database, which will then be made available to the public, free-of-charge. The work is made possible by a $21,000 nonprofit capacity building grant, given by the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis.

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    Community Foundation marks 50 years of serving the Mid-South

    (Sep. 8, 2019) While the Community Foundation has traditionally had funds that people donate to on an annual basis, its new FOREVER Fund is a permanent endowment that leverages more immediate donations to ensure foundation funding in perpetuity. The Daily Memphian reports.

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    Protecting and Restoring Children

    (Jul. 1, 2019) Memphis Child Advocacy Center uses funds to strengthen its ability to serve children who are or may become victims of sexual and severe physical abuse through prevention, education, and intervention.

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    Investing in a Neighborhood

    (Jul. 1, 2019) Donors Lori and Eric Robertson are among Soulsville, USA’s proudest and most vocal ambassadors. As inspiring as the neighborhood’s past is, the Robertsons are focused on its future, and how they can play a part.

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    Setting the Stage for the Arts

    (Jun. 1, 2019) Gene Katz appreciates the high quality and relatively low costs of a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis. It’s a tool he and his wife, Carol, have used for years to target and administer their charitable giving, primarily to support Memphis's arts and culture.

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    Change in the Community Foundation’s Grant Due Diligence Policy

    (Mar. 28, 2019) In response to a small but growing national controversy around the funding of hate groups through donor-advised and similar funds, the Board of Governors has voted to amend the Foundation’s Grant Due Diligence Policy to prohibit grantmaking to recognized hate groups.

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    Remembering George Riley at MLK50

    (May 1, 2018) Donors John and Maryellen Riley were determined to bring his brother George's vision of a multi-disciplinary cultural celebration to fruition in the wake of his 2016 death. A fund at the Community Foundation let them support arts- and justice-focused programming as part of the MLK50 commemoration.

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    Encore

    (May 1, 2018) A Charitable Lead Annuity Trust established by his grandfather allows donors Jonathan and Mary Catherine Schallert to support the arts. It also creates a tradiiton of giving they instill in their own children.

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    Giving Hope

    (May 1, 2018) LEO Events' Cindy and Kevin Brewer use funds at the Community Foundation to support not only their family's giving to organizations like Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, but also to further their company philanthropy.

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    Lighting the Path Forward

    (May 1, 2018) The Power & Telephone Supply Company Charitable Fund matches each charitable contribution made by its employees. Funds allow the Pentecost family to encourage employee giving and make their own contributions to the community.

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    Stepping Up

    (May 1, 2018) Donors Lois DeBerry and Charles Traughber established a scholarship fund in memory of their beloved goddaughter that annually supports the educational dreams of promising students.

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    Strength in Flexibility

    (May 1, 2017) As they became more intentional about succession planning, a set of cousins recognized their most efficient option would be to dissolve their family foundation and create distinct funds at the Community Foundation. Learn how the Schadts simplify giving with a donor-advised fund.

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    An Eye Toward the Next Act

    (May 1, 2017) After having an endowment fund at the Community Foundation for decades, Opera Memphis bolsters its future with a reserve fund - what CEO Ned Canty calls its "sunny day fund."

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    Dunbar Abston Fund for Sustainable Excellence

    In recognition of late donor Dunbar Abston's love for education, his family established the Dunbar Abston Chair for Sustainable Excellence with the Tennessee Shakespeare Company, an organization that reaches and educates many hundreds of children in the public schools each year.

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    Supporting Jewish causes 100+ years later

    Over a century after its founding and 40 years after it ceased operations, the Jewish Neighborhood House is still supporting Jewish causes through an endowed fund at the Community Foundation.

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    Strengthening our Community through Philanthropy

    A community foundation is a philanthropic organization that manages charitable funds with a broad base of donors to benefit a specific geographic area—in our case, West Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, and northern Mississippi. Founded in 1969, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis brings a half-century of experience and expertise, working with donors, professional advisors, and nonprofits to help strengthen our community through philanthropy. Together, we have built a trusted resource that helps transform the way you give.

    Who we are

    Investing in Memphis and the Mid-South

    The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis is a place where generous people from diverse backgrounds come together to make our community a better place. Collectively, they have created the largest grantmaker—public or private—in the region. Together with these donors, we fulfill our mission of strengthening our community through philanthropy.

    Our impact