The Pinebelt Foundation has continued to grow since it started in 1997. Now, a $200,000 pledge from a family foundation will double the value of donations for the next year.
The Pinebelt Foundation supports the work of more than 200 local charities, and donors will reap the benefit of The Mapp Family Foundation’s pledge through the TIMES2 campaign. The Mapp Family Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization that supports tax-exempt organizations in Alabama and Mississippi.
Pinebelt Foundation Executive Director Mike Dixon said he sees the TIMES2 benefits for the charities that the foundation oversees.
“The TIMES2 campaign is an amazing opportunity to invest in the Pinebelt Foundation more effectively than ever before,” he said. “We are asking the community to make sure that we do not leave a single dollar of this match unclaimed.”
The Pinebelt Foundation provided its first $1 million to charities in 2013. Its success reached new levels the next year when an EF3 tornado crushed Columbia two days before Christmas 2014. Dixon said the Pinebelt Foundation has seen large growth since it began.
“It was just a group of local leaders for an ADP (Area Development Partnership) project, and usually those projects don't last long,” he said. “It’s usually something that you do, and then it's done. This one is still hanging around somehow, so it's been a real community effort. While most people don't quite understand what a community foundation does, over the years, people come to understand its importance just by seeing things like the tornado comes through Columbia, or when one came through Hattiesburg three years ago.”
Community foundations, like the Pinebelt Foundation, serve as a gathering point when people need help in tragedies, Dixon said. However, foundations also oversee charitable giving and endowment funds.
“When there's a charitable dream that someone has, then we're there to help make it a reality,” he said. “So, especially when there's a large group of people and there's no one in charge, then someone needs to be the gathering point for that. That's what we do.”
Dixon said the Foundation is involved in disaster relief, but it also holds about 150 separate funds.
“It is kind of like running 150 separate little nonprofits under one,” he said. “We're working in every imaginable area throughout the Pine Belt, which keeps me on my toes. It's just really fascinating and fun work because we get to be a part of addressing literally every kind of problem you can imagine in our community.”
The Pinebelt Foundation oversees several endowment funds that can continually provide scholarships.
“Scholarship funding for former Columbia teacher Baxter White is a great example of the same premise of TIMES2,” he said. “Because of the permanent fund, that means it's going to get scholarships for the next 30, 40, and 50 years. If we've learned anything in the last year, life is unpredictable.”
The pandemic has caused problems for everyone, Dixon said.
“We don't quite know what's gonna come or when it's gonna come,” he said. “This year has been difficult on everybody, and nonprofits are no exception. Gifts are down in the nonprofits, and demand is up. In the marketplace of running a charity and trying to help people, this is a tough, tough year for folks. And so I'm trying to do what we can to convince other nonprofits and then setting that bar for ourselves as well. Funds really are what help carry you through these low points because you have some money set aside that's going to keep showing up every year, no matter of the markets.”
Dixon said the Pinebelt Foundation is blessed because the Mapp Family Foundation believes enough in the foundation and what it does for them to want to invest in the ongoing future and making sure that they're here 20 years from now doing all the good work they're doing now.
“It's just amazing to us,” he said. “We're just so excited that they were willing to do that. That is so incredible; it really is.”
Contributions to the TIMES2 campaign may also be eligible for tax credits under legislation passed a year ago by Mississippi lawmakers called Endow Mississippi. The legislation incentivizes individuals, businesses and organizations to give to permanent endowments at qualified community foundations, including the Pinebelt Foundation. Donations of $1,000 to $200,000 result in a tax credit equal to 25 percent of the donation, while a standard charitable deduction can be taken for the remaining 75 percent of your donation. A limited number of tax credits are available, so early contributions are encouraged.
More information can be found at pinebeltfoundation.org.