Catalyzing Community Foundations

Arkansas Community Foundation engages people, connects resources and inspires solutions to build community.  

Organization Summary: Arkansas Community Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit organization working statewide that offers tools to help Arkansans protect, grow and direct charitable dollars while learning more about community needs. By making grants and sharing knowledge, the Community Foundation supports charitable programs that work for Arkansas and partners with others to create new initiatives that address the gaps. Since 1976, we’ve provided more than half a million in grants and partnered with thousands of Arkansans to help them improve our neighborhoods, our towns and our entire state. We work locally through a network of 29 affiliate offices, each with a local staff presence and advisory board. Affiliates have responsibility for local donor services, fund development, community leadership initiatives and administration, bringing the full services of the Community Foundation to the counties they serve.

Project Team Arkansas Community Foundation – Linsley Kinkade, chief program officer. Linsley leads the community investment team and provides leadership in setting and implementing the key strategies for achieving the Foundation’s vision of vital communities at local and state levels. Raised in rural southwest Arkansas, she has dedicated her career to asset-based community development in the rural mid-south through projects that improve quality of life and engender a sense of place. A graduate of the University of Arkansas, she holds a B.A. in Journalism, serves on the Community Development Institute’s Advisory Board, and is a certified Professional Community and Economic Developer

Community-Based Organization Partners: 

• Mamas United LR

• Arkansas Commitment

• Urban League of the State of Arkansas

• Upskill NWA

• Thrive, Inc.

• Life Skills for Youth

Community Foundation of North Louisiana brings people and resources together to solve problems and enhance our community. Our mission is to promote philanthropy and improve the quality of life in the North Louisiana community by serving as a permanent and growing resource of expertise and funds.

Summary: Established in 1961, CFNLA oversees nearly $200 million in assets for the benefit of North Louisiana. CFNLA’s mission is to promote philanthropy and improve the quality of life in the North Louisiana community by serving as a permanent and growing resource of expertise and funds. CFNLA has a longstanding history of effectively administering grants. In 2023, CFNLA received $13 million in donations, facilitated the creation of 25 new funds, and awarded $10.7 million in grants and scholarships to 342 nonprofit organizations and 34 students. CFNLA has a staff of nine and is governed by a seven-member volunteer Board of Directors. In addition to grantmaking, CFNLA convenes public/private partnerships, such as the Early Childhood Education Steering Committee formed in 2021, to identify problems and develop solutions to effect real and lasting change.

Project leads: Kate Pedrotty – Director of Community Investment, Community Foundation of North Louisiana.  Kate Pedrotty joined the CFNLA team in November 2024 after a career in higher education marketing and communication, nonprofit management, and grant writing. She holds bachelor’s degrees in history and dance and a master’s degree in history. Through her previous work as executive director of a local arts nonprofit, as a staff member and instructor at Centenary College of Louisiana, and as a grant writer and board member for several local nonporofits in the human services sector, Pedrotty has cultivated important relationships with organizations and individuals throughout the Shreveport-Bossier City community. She will serve as CFNLA project lead for the Catalyzing Community Foundations grant, managing program design and implementation with the nonprofit regrant partners and executing CFNLA’s internal capacity building strategy in collaboration with her colleagues.

Community-Based Organization Partners: 

• Faith and Fostering

• N.E.L.T. – Kappa Alpha Psi, Bossier City Alumni Chapter
• Oasis of Hope

For the past 65 years, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham (CFGB) has served as a community leader, driving positive change that positively impacts the lives of all residents. CFGB’s mission is to ignite passion for transformational change. As the largest foundation in the state (nearly $348 million in assets) and a trusted community partner, we work alongside organizations to drive positive impact in our five-county footprint and play strong leadership roles in statewide coalitions and strategic partnerships.

Summary: Over the past decade, we have cultivated a stronger focus on strategic leadership and proactive grantmaking, leading local and statewide initiatives around economic opportunity for all, transportation, mental health, payday lending reform, complete census count, homicide reduction and more. In addition to local and state partners, we have built strong relationships with national partners; our recent multi-year national funding partners include Casey Family Programs and Aspen Institute. As a Community Foundation National Standards accredited foundation, CFGB follows rigorous best practices for the community foundation sector.

Project Leads:

• Estela Tirado, Program Officer Education: Master’s in Public Policy, Universidad de Guadalajara Bachelor’s in International Relations, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores Monterrey Relevant Experience: At CFGB, Estela serves as the lead for the Catalyze Birmingham Challenge, which funds innovative approaches to career-connected learning, and manages CFGB grantmaking around its Overcoming Persistent Poverty priority. Prior to joining CFGB, Estela worked as the Program Manager for Empowering Communities at the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, where she designed and executed programs related to education, college and career readiness, civic engagement, and workforce development. She facilitated Escalera workshops and other educational workshops for high school students and parents. She led community advocacy related to college admissions, DACA students, and first-generation students. She has experience in all her roles with budget management, grant management, and community engagement. Estela also served as the Bilingual Communications Specialist for Birmingham City Schools, creating strategies to engage and market to Spanish-speaking and EL families in the district, facilitating workshops focused on Hispanic and immigrant populations, translating district written communications to parents and stakeholders, reviewing content for cultural competency, and serving as liaison for students and families with community-based organizations.
• Gus Heard-Hughes, Senior Vice President of Programs Education: Master of Social Work (MSW), Social Policy and Administration, Florida State University B.A. Sustainable Development, Hampshire College Relevant Experience: Gus has served at CFGB since 2011. He has led efforts such as the Small Business Impact Initiative (which expanded the pool of capital and technical assistance for small, underserved businesses, including Black-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, and others) and Building It Together (which worked to align education and workforce training in the region with high-quality jobs of the future). He also helps lead CFGB strategic initiatives focused on mental health, regional cooperation, transportation, family strengthening and support, and more. He manages CFGB’s grantmaking around its Economic Opportunity for All priority, and is well connected with organizations focused on improving education, workforce development, career access, small business development, and related issues.

Community Based Organization Partners

• Alabama Possible

• Breakthrough Birmingham

• College Choice Foundation

• VIDAL Access

 

Connecting people who care with causes that matter.

Summary: The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi manages 314 donor-established funds and has disbursed over $48 million to support more than 1,000 charitable organizations and activities recommended by its donors, as well as charitable programs established by the Foundation. Established in 2002 with a generous grant from the Maddox Foundation, the Community Foundation is an independent 501(c)3 charitable organization. This year, the Foundation reached $50 million in total assets! The Foundation serves Bolivar, Coahoma, DeSoto, Leflore, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, and Tunica counties. A board of 22 volunteer civic leaders governs the Community Foundation.

Program Lead: Keith Fulcher is President of the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi. Hired in 2019, Fulcher has grown the assets of the Foundation from $19 million to $50 million as of December 31, 2024. He worked for 11 years in the Mississippi Catholic School system as a teacher/coach (Biloxi, Mississippi), junior high principal (Jackson, Mississippi), and director of development (Vicksburg, Mississippi).

Fulcher retired in 2019 from the Delta State University Alumni-Foundation after a 23-year career and helped lead capital campaigns in the $40 million range. Gifts secured by Fulcher included $3 million from the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation for the Center for Teaching and Learning; $1.5 million from the Dorgan Family to name the Dorgan Center; $4 million from Dr. Fred Pittman for academic scholarships; $4.5 million from Robert E. Smith for the Robert E. Smith School of Nursing.

Fulcher instituted the University’s first-ever Annual Fund, Planned Giving Society, Prospect Management System, and implemented technological advancements for greater efficiency that benefited multiple offices at the University and the Alumni-Foundation.

Fulcher is a board member of the Girl Scouts Heart of the South, the Boy Scouts of America’s Chickasaw Council, the Catholic Diocese of Jackson Mississippi, the Southern Federation of Syrian and Lebanese Clubs of America Foundation, and the National Federation of Syrian and Lebanese Clubs Foundation.

Fulcher earned his A.A. degree from Hinds Community College (Raymond, Mississippi), B.S.E. in Social Science and M.Ed. from Delta State University (Cleveland, Mississippi), Administration Certification from William Carey University (Hattiesburg, Mississippi), and has taken education courses over two summers at Boston College (Boston, Massachusetts). He participated in Harvard University’s The Principal Center summer program in 1989 and is a founding member of the Millsaps College Principal’s Institute in Jackson, Mississippi.

Community-Based Organization Partners

• Delta Compass

• Griot Arts

• Boss Lady Economic Planning Development Workforce Transportation

• Spring Initiative