Foundations of all sizes are thinking creatively about ways to address the staggering implications of the COVID-19 crisis through our nonprofit partners. For the Babcock Foundation, an opportunity presented itself last month when our friends at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation invited us to...
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Riverside Church, 1967
If there is any...
This article appeared in Nonprofit Quarterly on March 27, 2020.
When the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation grasped the severity of COVID-19 and its likely impacts on the people and places we care about, we began to brainstorm things within our power to mitigate the harm. We...
“If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table, not a taller fence.” - Unknown
While it has been said COVID19 doesn’t discriminate – anyone from any background can be affected by the virus – this sentiment doesn’t tell the whole story. The virus has and will continue to disproportionately affect our most marginalized communities. The South is home to uniquely...
The COVID crisis underscores the need to address short-term and long-term emergencies like the virus's disproportionate impacts caused by centuries of structural racism , and the very real threat to our democracy in this critical election and census year.
Philanthropy can and should play a major role by meeting the immediate crisis and supporting long-term power building through...
As we all grapple with the uncertain and worrying implications of COVID-19, the physical and mental health and safety of our partners, their families, volunteers and communities are of paramount importance. At the Babcock Foundation, we are following health experts’ “social distancing” guidance and working from home until at least April 6, so the best way to reach us is likely email. We are...
UPDATE: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have extended the deadline for public comment to April 8.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are proposing drastic changes to Community Reinvestment Act regulations that would weaken CRA’s ability to target...
Few people have left marks on Southern philanthropy as significant as Katie Mountcastle’s, though she never would have said so. Mountcastle shunned the spotlight, seeking to channel her considerable energy and passion into effective, behind-the-scenes social change strategies.
Her mother, Mary Reynolds Babcock, established the Foundation upon her death in 1953. Babcock’s husband,...
