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

MRBF Joins Supreme Court Amicus Brief about Census

A fair, thorough and accurate census count is vital to nearly every aspect of our personal and professional lives. The Constitution requires the federal government to count every member of the population every ten...

MRBF

Issues

Places

  • Reasons to celebrate 2018

    We won’t sugarcoat it: 2018 was a tough year. The words of abolitionist Frederick Douglass frequently came to mind: “This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never...

    Project South

  • Welcome our new board members

    The board and staff of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation are excited to begin 2019 with two new directors.

    Stephanie Tyree is...

    Stephanie Tyree, Holt Mountcastle

  • Advancing Racial Equity With State Tax Policy

    This post is adapted from one that originally appeared on the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' website . The Center is a nonpartisan research and policy advocacy institute, and one of the Babcock Foundation's grantee partners.

    States and localities can do more to help undo the harmful legacies of racism and the damage of continuing racial bias and...

    States Can Use Tax Policy to Advance Racial Equity

  • Congratulations to our New and Returning Grantee Partners

    Congratulations to our new and returning grantee partners who received funding in October 2018:

    AEO Democratizing Rural Electric Cooperatives Working Group Alliance for Appalachia Appalachian Voices, Inc. Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta Athens Land Trust, Inc. Black Belt Community Foundation Center for Rural Strategies CommunityWorks Deep Center, Inc...