Community Foundation for Mississippi

Friendsgiving 2026 is officially sold out! We’re so grateful for the response and can’t wait to gather around the table with so many friends on November 17. Still hoping to join us? We’ve opened a waiting list. Fill out the form at https://lnkd.in/guS-vRpG, and if tickets become available, we’ll contact people in the order requests are received. Thank you for making Friendsgiving such a special part of the CFM year!

Genevieve Falk loved the arts in Jackson. And she made a plan to keep supporting them long after her lifetime. Through a bequest to CFM, Genevieve created lasting support for five organizations she cared about deeply: Ballet Mississippi, Mississippi Museum of Art, Opera Mississippi, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, and New Stage Theatre.  Today, the Meyer and Genevieve Falk Endowment Fund for Culture and Arts continues to make grants each year, carrying that commitment forward and helping the arts remain part of what brings people together in the place Genevieve called home. In this video, Ballet Mississippi’s David Keary reflects on what that kind of generosity means years later.

At Camp Kamassa, accessibility isn’t an add-on. It’s the starting point. The campus in Copiah County was designed so children and adults with disabilities, chronic illnesses and other special needs can experience camp in a place built with them in mind. That means everything from accessible cabins and gathering spaces to details that make it possible for campers with higher medical or caregiving needs to participate fully. Camp Kamassa also thinks long-term. Through an endowment at CFM, the organization is building resources to help care for and maintain the campus so it can continue serving campers and partner organizations for years to come. This is what it looks like when a place is designed around belonging from the very beginning.

Yesterday, we joined the Junior League of Jackson at Cardozo Middle School to celebrate this year’s Jackson Public Schools Mini-Grant recipients and the teachers bringing new ideas and opportunities into JPS classrooms. CFM and the Junior League of Jackson have been longtime partners in this work, investing nearly $2.5 million in projects for Jackson schools over the program's history. Year after year, these grants help educators turn classroom needs and ideas into something tangible for students. We’re grateful to continue this work and to celebrate the teachers making it happen across JPS. Congratulations!

Susan and Macy Hart care about local. When it came to making decisions about their charitable giving, the choice was easy: create a donor advised fund (DAF) at the Community Foundation for Mississippi. Instead of individual gifts to nonprofits, the Harts make one gift to CFM each year and decide on grants together as a family to the causes they care about. Learn more about DAFs here: https://lnkd.in/gFBBci_G

It started with a conversation overheard in a clinic. Donivon Duffy noticed a small need, stepped in to help and began asking what else might be possible. That moment grew into The Manors Foundation, which now worksThe Manors Foundation, which is now working to help kidney patients access reliable transportation to dialysis. Through two funds at CFM, that idea has a place to grow for today and for the future. Learn more about the Manors Foundation funds at CFM here: https://lnkd.in/dx6-UFRu

You don’t have to know exactly how to help before you begin. Maybe there’s a nonprofit you want to support. A need you keep noticing in your community. A place you want to see thrive. Or simply a feeling that you want to do something meaningful, but you’re not sure what that something should be. That’s a perfectly good place to start. At CFM, some of our best conversations begin there. We can help connect the questions, ideas and generosity people bring to us with the resources, relationships and possibilities that can help move them forward. Start with what you care about. We’ll help you figure out what comes next.

Friendsgiving is about the family you choose, the people who show up and the relationships that grow around the table. For the third year, The Thigpen Group is returning as presenting sponsor of Friendsgiving, and we’re grateful for their continued support of a gathering that is all about connection, community and the places we call home. For more than 30 years, The Thigpen Group has worked with individuals and families to think about what matters to them now and what they hope to carry forward. Their approach begins with conversation, understanding a person’s passions, purpose and the legacy they want to leave. That feels right at home at Friendsgiving, where we come together with people who care deeply about Mississippi and about what we can make possible for its future. Haven't bought your tickets for November 17? Purchase here: https://lnkd.in/guS-vRpG

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Legacy Letter Challenge with Blake Brewer! Hosted by New Perspectives, Inc. and sponsored by CFM, the evening invited participants to think beyond what we leave behind financially and consider the words, stories and values we want the people we love to carry forward. We’re grateful to Blake for guiding such a meaningful experience, to New Perspectives for bringing this opportunity to Jackson and to everyone who made time to be part of it.

Our work is only possible because of people. People who care about where they live. People who want to support the causes and organizations that matter to them. People with ideas they want to see move forward. We’re proud to be a partner that helps generosity take shape, working alongside donors, nonprofits and everyone in between to connect people, resources and opportunities. See how your efforts helped make a difference in communities this past year.