Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation supports democracy and civic engagement initiatives in the U.S. South.

IP TAKE: The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation is a major Southern funder with a progressive, highly relational approach. It supports organizations across 11 states working on racial equity, economic justice, civic engagement and long-term power building. Its priorities may look narrow on paper, but Babcock funds flexibly, including general operating, project, organizational-development and network “glue” support.

The strongest prospects are organizations accountable to low-wealth communities, led by people directly affected by the issues at hand and deeply embedded in coalitions or statewide networks. Babcock looks for a clear analysis of race, power and place, along with strategies that target systems, institutions and public narratives—not just short-term services.

The foundation is more approachable than a typical invitation-only funder: nonprofits may submit an Organizational Summary, though that is only the first step. Warm introductions are not required, but meaningful participation in groups such as ProGeorgia, Alabama Forward, Mississippi Engaged or Southern Vision Alliance can help build visibility. Conventional direct-service providers, isolated projects and organizations without strong community governance are less likely to fit.

Babcock has deliberately spent above the private-foundation minimum in recent years and has extended an 11% spending-and-payout commitment through 2031.

PROFILE: The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (MRBF) was established in 1953 with a $12 million bequest from tobacco heiress Mary Babcock, daughter of R.J. Reynolds. The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation supports organizations and networks working to reduce poverty and advance racial, social and economic justice across the American South. The foundation has long backed grassroots advocacy, voter engagement, public accountability and historically Black colleges and universities. Today, its grantmaking is centered on building power in communities that have historically been excluded from political and economic decision-making. The foundation’s mission is to “help people and places move out of poverty and achieve greater social and economic justice.”

Babcock’s current work is organized around a Primary Strategy and a Complementary Strategy. These strategies pursue change along three interconnected pathways: Democracy and Civic Engagement, Supportive Policies and Institutions, and Economic Opportunity. Grantseekers should not treat the three pathways as separate application programs; most successful organizations work across more than one.

Grantmaking serves organizations serving communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The foundation also runs a mission investing program.

Grants for Democracy, Civic Engagment and Opportunity

Primary Strategy: Building Power and State Infrastructure

Babcock’s Primary Strategy supports organizations and networks building power at the state and local levels. The foundation seeks to strengthen durable infrastructure that allows people of color, low-wealth residents and communities affected by systemic disinvestment to influence public policy, elections, institutions and public narratives.

• Supported organizations may operate in six arenas of change: Electoral, Legislative, Administrative, Judicial or legal, Corporate and Narrative
• The foundation favors layered strategies. A statewide network, for example, might combine grassroots organizing, voter engagement, policy advocacy, litigation, research and communications rather than relying on a single intervention. Babcock also supports the coalition coordination and “glue” work that allows organizations to share resources, align strategy and define complementary roles.
• Regional organizations working across state lines are becoming increasingly important. Babcock has said that cross-state power-building groups will form the core of its 2027–2031 strategy, connecting local organizing with broader Southern infrastructure.

Democracy and Civic Engagement

Babcock supports organizations that help people who have historically been shut out of decision-making build and exercise political power.

• Relevant work may include: Community organizing, Leadership development, Voter education, Voter registration and turnout, Inclusive community planning, Redistricting and voting-rights advocacy, Coalition building, Civic engagement infrastructure, and Narrative and communications work
• The foundation is interested in more than electoral participation alone. It considers how communities exercise power through legislatures, government agencies, courts, corporations and public narratives as well as elections.
• Recent democracy and civic-engagement grantees include Alabama Forward, ProGeorgia State Table, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, Mississippi Engaged, State Voices, Democracy North Carolina, Fair Count, Mississippi Votes, New Virginia Majority Education Fund and North Carolina Asian Americans Together. The largest awards frequently support organizations that coordinate statewide networks or regrant funds to grassroots partners.

Supportive Policies and Institutions

This pathway supports efforts to change public and private policies that shape economic security, political participation and quality of life.

• Babcock names voting rights, budget and tax policy, immigration enforcement, healthcare, education, climate, public transit, judicial systems and workplace practices as examples of relevant policy areas.
• Grants may support: Policy research and analysis, Community-led advocacy, Legislative and administrative campaigns, Strategic communications, Litigation and legal advocacy, Public education, Institutional accountability, Organizing around public budgets and services
• Best fits: Strong prospects typically connect research or policy expertise to an organized constituency. A think tank producing stand-alone reports without close relationships to affected communities is likely to be less competitive than an organization combining research with organizing, advocacy and coalition participation.
• Recent grantees working in these areas include Alabama Arise, Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and the Promise of Justice Initiative.

Economic Opportunity

Babcock’s economic grantmaking seeks to change the systems that produce racial and geographic wealth disparities. It is less interested in conventional financial-literacy or workforce programs than in efforts that increase community ownership, decision-making power and access to non-extractive capital.

• Areas of interest include: Non-predatory financial services, Community ownership of land and assets, Entrepreneurship and cooperative enterprise, Democratic ownership and governance, Family-supporting employment, Community development finance, Land access and land justice, New economic and business models, Organizing for worker and community power
• The foundation may support economic-development organizations when their work is tied to systemic change, racial equity and community governance. Stand-alone job training, individual assistance or conventional small-business services are unlikely to fit unless they are part of a broader power-building or structural strategy.
• Recent economic-opportunity and community-development grantees include the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation, South Carolina Community Loan Fund, Housing Louisiana and organizations working on community ownership, land and equitable finance.

Complementary Strategy

Babcock’s Complementary Strategy supports organizations developing restorative economic models rooted in democratic practices, solidarity and community ownership. This work is intended to complement the foundation’s primary focus on state-level power-building infrastructure.

• The strategy is exploratory and may include grants as well as program-related investments.
• Strong prospects are likely to be developing models that transfer ownership, governance or financial decision-making to communities that have historically experienced extraction and disinvestment.

Mission Investing and Program-Related Investments

Babcock uses program-related investments, or PRIs, alongside conventional grants. These investments are designed to accept forms of risk that traditional financial institutions may avoid and to increase wealth, ownership and financial capacity in marginalized communities.

• The foundation’s current mission-investing framework focuses on four areas:
  • Community Ownership: Expanding ownership of land, businesses and other assets.
  • Community Governance: Giving communities greater control over capital and financial decision-making.
  • Community Action: Strengthening organizations pursuing structural and narrative change.
  • Land Justice: Supporting land reclamation, access, stewardship and ownership.
• Potential investments may involve nonprofit or for-profit financial intermediaries, community enterprises, loan funds, real estate funds and other projects using debt, equity or hybrid structures. The foundation is particularly interested in non-extractive financing, locally controlled assets and models that allow working-class communities to steward capital directly.
• Babcock distinguishes PRIs from its market-rate mission-aligned investments. Grantseekers should not assume that every investment carrying a social or environmental screen is a charitable PRI.
• Organizations seeking grants or investments under this strategy may submit the foundation’s separate Complementary Strategy Organizational Summary. A completed summary does not constitute a funding application or guarantee further consideration.

Other Grantmaking:

• Babcock maintains a Democracy Protection Fund intended to counter threats to democratic participation and help organizations mobilize, organize and protect communities.
  • The foundation has not published a separate application, eligibility policy or deadline for this fund.
  • Current materials discuss the fund primarily as a way to sustain grantee partners’ work. New organizations should not assume that it operates as a public rapid-response RFP.

• The Crisis Response Fund supports urgent work involving community defense, mutual aid and policy accountability. Babcock has not identified a standalone public application process for this funding.
  • The fund appears to be deployed through existing relationships and the foundation’s knowledge of its grantee networks.
  • Prospective applicants should use the regular inquiry process rather than attempting to submit an unsolicited emergency proposal.

In 2022, the Ford Foundation committed an additional $10 million over five years for Babcock to deploy in support of Southern organizing, advocacy and racial-equity infrastructure.

• The partnership emphasizes multiyear general operating support for organizations and networks building power across the region.
• There is no separate Ford-Babcock application. Organizations interested in this funding are directed through Babcock’s regular Organizational Summary process.

Babcock makes large grants to statewide tables, coalition hubs and other intermediaries that regrant funds to grassroots organizations. Its 2024 tax filing identifies regranting support to organizations including ProGeorgia State Table, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, Alabama Forward, Mississippi Engaged, State Voices, Southern Vision Alliance and North Carolina Asian Americans Together.

Important Grant Details:

Its assets stood at approximately $182 million at the end of 2024. That year, it paid about $17.7 million in grants.

• Babcock works in 11 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. It supports local, statewide, regional and national organizations whose work directly benefits this region.
• The foundation awards general operating support, program support and organizational support, as well as program related investments
• Babcock does not accept unsolicited full proposals, but it maintains a year-round open inquiry process.
  • A prospective partner may submit an Organizational Summary at any time. The summary is neither an application nor a letter of inquiry. It is an introductory form that allows staff to learn about an organization’s strategies, networks, leadership and goals.
  • Organizations aligned with state and regional power building should submit the Primary Strategy Organizational Summary.
  • Organizations working on restorative economic models, community ownership or mission investing should submit the Complementary Strategy Organizational Summary.
  • After reviewing a summary, staff may invite the organization to a learning call. If funding is available and the work closely aligns with current priorities, the foundation may request a full proposal. Staff then conduct another learning meeting and prepare recommendations for board approval.
• For information about past giving, see the foundation’s Story Bank.
• Use the form on the contact page to submit questions to the Babcock Foundation.
• Phone: 336-748-9222
• Email: info@mrbf.org

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Last updated on July 23, 2026