Helping to Move People and Places out of Poverty

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

The Babcock Foundation partners with organizations and networks working to alleviate poverty and increase social and economic justice in 11 Southern states. We believe in democracy, opportunity and the power of partnerships, and we follow the lead of local experts who know what their communities need to thrive.

We support collaborative, multi-strategy, place-based work focused on democracy and civic engagement, economic opportunity, and supportive policies and institutions. We believe sustained, general-support grants are critical to helping organizations remain nimble and effective. In addition to grantmaking, we make strategic investments aligned with our mission and values. 

Established in 1953 with a $12 million bequest from Mary Reynolds Babcock, in its early days the Foundation supported historically black colleges and universities, grassroots advocacy groups, voter education and government accountability efforts – a unique legacy for Southern family philanthropy. 

The values that guided the Foundation in those days – fairness, democracy, equity and opportunity – continue to be our North Star today. 

Our Mission & Vision

Grants

Stories

Announcing our New Strategic Directions

The South is evolving, and our work is evolving with it.

After two years of careful reflection and conversations with grantee partners and other experts across the region, the Babcock Foundation is pleased to share our deepened commitments to center power building and racial equity in...

MRBF Launches CEO Search

The board and staff of the Babcock Foundation have formally launched our search for our next CEO. We hope our grantee and philanthropic partners will take a look at our announcement and consider whether they know excellent folks who fit the bill. This is an exciting time to join the Foundation....

Micah Gilmer

MRBF Announces Interim CEO

Babcock Foundation trustee Dr. Micah Gilmer has agreed to serve as Interim CEO for the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. Gilmer is Cofounder and Senior Partner of Frontline Solutions , a Black-owned consulting firm dedicated to making the world more just for all. In that role, Gilmer leads the...

MRBF

Issues

Places

  • Celebrating 2020 (Yes, Really)

    We are in an era of transition, opportunity and hope. A new federal administration is beginning to address the atrocities and negligence of the previous one. Two new senators – one Black, one Jewish – are making history by representing Georgia. COVID vaccine distributions...

    Latino Community Fund-Georgia

  • CEO Justin Maxson leaving MRBF

    With deep gratitude for his six years of dedication and service, the board and staff of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation announce the departure of CEO Justin Maxson, who has accepted the position of USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development in the Biden-Harris Administration....

  • Toward a New Democracy

    “Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part.” John Lewis

    It’s often said we don’t realize when we’re living through history. The events of this week are unmistakably historic, for better and for worse.

    Georgians elected their first Black senator and first Jewish senator, a culmination of the diligent, aligned work of organizers...

    ProGeorgia

  • Seeding a Better, More Equitable Normal

    This article originally appeared as a guest post on the Center for Effective Philanthropy's website on November 10, 2020.

    If 2020 has reinforced any lesson, it is that the people and organizations seeking to advance social, economic, and racial justice need flexibility and stability to adapt to whiplashing context changes in already hostile environments. Those of us...

    Communities Unlimited

  • Investing our Endowment with a Focus on Racial Justice

    This article appeared in ImpactAlpha on August 13, 2020.

    The disproportionate harms to Black Americans wrought by COVID and those wrought by police brutality are symptoms of the same disease: racism hardwired into our political, economic, social and cultural systems.

    What Black and Latinx communities are experiencing is the culmination of four centuries of laws,...

    Wayne Lee-Sing, Unsplash