News Release

Working To Pull Non Profits Together

Southaven, Mar 7, 2002 - Wednesday meeting a first step toward pulling non-profits together

Youth theater.

Wildlife rehabilitation.

National computer project.

Historic museum.

Northwest Mississippi Community College.

They have little in common except all are non-profit organizations and were represented, along with dozens of other organizations, at the first workshop for non-profits in northwest Mississippi. They gathered at the DeSoto Civic Center Wednesday to learn from the Mississippi Center for Non-Profits and the Hernando-based Maddox Foundation.

Non-profit organizations exist to meet needs that businesses do not find profitable. They enrich all our lives.

As DeSoto County's population has exploded, so too have the needs of our community. Non-profit organizations have arisen and grown to help meet these needs. They have preserved and enhanced our quality of life.

Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, the head of the Mississippi Center for Non-Profits, told the assembled group that the number of non-profits is also exploding nationally. More and more, our society is relying on them.

Alone, each organization may accomplish little. Together, however, they can make a significant difference.

The Northwest Mississippi Community Foundation, which I have the honor of co-founding with Maddox Foundation President Robin Costa, is forming to enhance that collaboration.

New community development director William Bailey listed a number of ways that the foundation may strengthen the non-profits-ranging from group health care insurance to grant writing.

Wednesday was the first step in pulling diverse non-profit organizations together for not only their own good but also the good of the communities and people they serve.