January News & Updates

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The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi is dedicated to empowering generosity and creating meaningful change in our community. Through this newsletter, we aim to provide you—our valued partners and supporters—with insightful resources, updates, and opportunities to enhance your philanthropic journey. Your commitment to making a difference inspires us every day, and we are deeply grateful to be part of your charitable efforts. Thank you for allowing us to join you in advancing causes that matter.

PEOPLE WHO CARE

To learn more about how you can make the biggest difference with your charitable dollars and ensure you can fully carry out your charitable wishes for 2025, make an appointment with Stacye! You and your advisors will both be glad you planned ahead. This is the best way to ensure your contribution creates impact all year long as well as to stay ahead of the game when it comes to maximizing tax benefits this year.

Start the Year Off Right by booking a meeting with our newest Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy!


We are extremely proud to announce that our Director of Development, Stacye Trout, has earned the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy designation from The American College of Financial Services!

Contact Stacye Trout
Learn more

Charitable Planning for 2025


You may still be recovering from a hectic end to 2024, but don’t let that stop you from getting a jump on your charitable planning for 2025. 


Benefits of a year-long giving strategy include:

  1. Helping nonprofit organizations meet their budgets all year long, which can save them from worrying as much about whether constituents’ ongoing needs can be addressed.
  2. Leveraging employer matching gifts programs early in the year when dollars are available and there is plenty of time to process the paperwork. Check out our Double the Donation information here.
  3. Increasing predictability of cash flow and therefore being proactive, not reactive, in supporting the causes you love. You might even consider setting up automatic contributions to your donor-advised or other types of funds at the Community Foundation to formalize this component as part of an ongoing plan.
  4. Taking advantage of plenty of time to learn more about the charities you plan to support so that you can be an even more informed and impactful donor, including fully utilizing the Community Foundation’s expertise and resources.
  5. Giving you time to include children and grandchildren in the charitable giving conversation and tax-planning structures as a learning experience for the whole family.
  6. If you’re over 70 ½, being able to avoid the year-end scramble to process a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA directly to an eligible charity, such as an unrestricted or field-of-interest fund at the Community Foundation, by executing a QCD in the first quarter.
  7. Leaving enough time to explore options for more complex giving techniques, such as gifts of closely held business interests or charitable remainder trusts, that might provide tax benefits as well as meet your charitable goals, rather than waiting until the last minute when it may be hard for everyone to coordinate calendars.
Does your employer match charitable gifts? Find out today!

Accessing your GoFund Portal


Donors at the Community Foundation can manage their fund(s) and gifts through our GoFund portal. To register or to learn more about how to utilize GoFund, call us at 662.449.5002 and we will be glad to help!

GoFund Donor Portal

CAUSES THAT MATTER

Browsing Funds at the Community Foundation


Using our online fund catalog makes finding gift opportunities easy! You can browse by category to find causes that align with your personal charitable goals or use the search bar to look up a specific cause you are interested in supporting. If there's not a fund for a cause that matters to you, call us to find out how to set one up!

GoDonate: Fund Catalog

Dr. Pam Chatman in Anguilla with recipients of FEMA manufactured homes funded through partnership with the Community Foundation.

Tornado Relief Fund


"Homes for the Holidays": Disaster Relief Efforts Gain National Recognition


The Tornado Relief Fund was set up in 2023 in response to the category 4 tornado that destroyed several parts of lower Mississippi. With over 100 donors contributing to the fund, it continues to support efforts towards recovery in 2025!

Learn more
Make a donation

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Email Donna

Competitive Grants & Scholarships


The competitive grant application cycle is open once-a-year between July 1st and August 1st. For questions regarding the new annual grant cycle, please contact Donna Goldman or call 662.449.5002.

Grants Portal
Scholarships Portal

"Healthy Hubs" Cohort Series Lineup


January-April

  • Client choice and Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) systems
  • Supporting client chronic disease self-management
  • Grant writing and evaluation planning
  • Additional topics requested by cohort


April-August

  • Pantries will design a project, specific to your pantry, that is focused on improving healthy eating and client wellness.
  • With assistance, each pantry will write a grant application for funding to implement their project. *Each pantry is guaranteed a minimum of $4,000, with the potential to apply for more.


August Wrap Up

  • Projects will be evaluated and pantries will receive and implement feedback.
Support the HUB

This January, Co-Directors Brenda Smith and Kara Dulaney launched the inaugural cohort session of their "Healthy Hubs" Series. This initiative, a collaboration between the Maddox Resource HUB, Mississippi State Extension Service, and the University of Mississippi's CREW, aims to help local food pantries implement actionable steps toward offering healthier food options. The program also focuses on encouraging clients to embrace these healthier choices during their visits. Sophie Hathaway, a Delta Fellow at the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, has played a pivotal role in bringing this program to life. Her in-depth research and data analysis have been instrumental in shaping its direction and ensuring its success.

Partner with us!

THE BOX PROJECT: FIGHTING RURAL POVERTY

For more than 60 years in the Mississippi Delta!!

The Box Project wrapped up 2024 Winter Holidays with feelings of deep gratitude for our devoted sponsors and donors. This year, we were pleased to match six (6) waitlist families with a Winter Holiday Sponsor and three (3) waitlist families with a Full-Time Family Sponsor match. The Box Project also hosted an Amazon Christmas Shopping Social for waitlist families in Mound Bayou, MS severing eleven (11) Box Project families, who were invited to come shop at St. Gabriel's Mercy Center. The Box Project was also able to shop for the remaining two (2) waitlist families due to generous donations from our Winter Holiday donors.


This Winter holiday season we were blessed with 100% of our CFNM staff donating to the Winter Holiday Shopping Fund, along with a number of our CFNM board members.


We are thankful and humbled by the outpouring of support for making the holidays better for families on our waitlist for a long-term sponsor.

January is Poverty in America Awareness Month!


Since the beginning of 2025, four (4) additional families have been matched with full time family sponsors! We still have nine (9) families on the waitlist and are actively recruiting full-time family sponsors now!


What's next?



The Box Project is planning a Sponsor/Donor Retreat in Boston, MA in Spring '25 to reconnect with current and past supporters of the Box Project. If you want to receive an invitation to the Boston Sponsor/Donor Event, email your interest and mailing address to boxprojectdirector@cfnm.org for an invitation.


Learn more
Sponsor a Family
Support the Box Project

LOOKING AHEAD

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

Feb 1st National Freedom Day

Feb 11th Women and Girls in Science Day

Feb 14th Valentine's Day

Feb 17th Random Acts of Kindness Day

Feb 20th World Day of Social Justice

To send us events to add to our calendar, email info@cfnm.org

www.cfnm.org | 662.449.5002 | info@cfnm.org

Established in 2002 with a generous grant from the Maddox Foundation

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