Grantmakers in the News

The growing presence of nonprofit groups in Arkansas and the drawing power of Bill Clinton's presidential library could be signs that a healthy philanthropic sector is emerging in a region that suffers from one of the nation's highest concentrations of poverty, a new report from the Jackson, Mississippi-based Foundation for the Mid South finds.

The report, Where Hope and History Rhyme: Reflections and Findings from the Mid South Commission to Build Philanthropy, found that Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are home to the nation's highest concentration of counties with persistent poverty, defined by the foundation as those in which 20 percent or more of county residents were poor in each of the last four census counts.

But the arrival of a handful of major nonprofits in Little Rock — including the anti-hunger group Heifer International, which is building its headquarters next to the Clinton library; Winrock International, which funds agricultural research; Lyons World Services for the Blind; and security firm James Lee Witt and Associates, which handles logistics for tsunami relief — is evidence, notes Foundation for the Mid South president George Penick, that an "emerging corridor of nonprofits...is finally bringing capacity to the region."

That's good news in a three-state region where the average per-capita assets of a philanthropic foundation is slightly more than $500 (compared to $1,756 for the United States as a whole). "A lot of philanthropic organizations are just funding the status quo," said Penick on a recent visit to Little Rock. "We want them to look at racial and social inequities and persistent poverty, which is more concentrated in these three states than anywhere else."

You can read or download the complete report at the Foundation for the Mid South Web site (PDF). You can also find a copy of the report in the Foundation Center-Atlanta library.

The Foundation for the Mid South works to build the communities resources and leadership of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi through change strategies based on regional cooperation. It does so by using private philanthropic resources to fund, develop, and promote programs in our current areas of interest including education, economic development, and families and children.