Community Foundation of East MS

There are over 700 community foundations in the United States.  Each helps strengthen its own community by encouraging and supporting local philanthropy and by connecting people and organizations who want to make a difference.  We are fortunate to have Community Foundation of East Mississippi (CFEM) right here in our community.  Acting as a natural convener of divergent interests, CFEM encourages cooperation and collaboration to maintain a vibrant and vital community. 

CFEM is a community (public) foundation for use of the general public.  They bring together people who want to give money with causes so they not only serve to encourage philanthropy and help donors find worthy uses for their dollars, CFEM works with charitable organizations to reach out to donors and to maintain sustainability through endowments. 

Anyone can invest in the community.  CFEM accepts any size gift, not just large gifts.  In addition to endowed funds, there are spenddown funds, which are project funds.  These have an immediate impact on the community.  There is also a tax credit that started this year for gifts towards endowments. 

The Community Foundation was founded by a group of business leaders who wanted to improve the quality of life in East Mississippi.  At that time, they decided the best way to actually achieve this goal was through education, so the Excellence in Education endowment was their very first fund.  Now, in 2019, CFEM has over 50 funds that range from education, to health and human services, economic development, disaster relief and funds for the art.  They don’t have just one focus, and that’s the beauty of a community development foundation.

 “The generosity of this community makes our work so rewarding.  People are very involved and very interested in not only giving of their money, but also giving of their time,” says Executive Director Leigh Thomas.  Community Foundation of East Mississippi belongs to EMBDC because they want to support the community and believe that it is important to participate: to be a part of the community and a part of what is going on.

Community Foundation of East Mississippi:  Bringing people who care, together with causes that matter.

Community Foundation of East Mississippi
4817 North Park Dr. Meridian, MS