Impressed by the Ole Miss Women’s Council’s (OMWC) mission to help students develop the life skills they need to be leaders, a Mississippi-based private charitable giving organization has increased its support of the program, providing funding to enable the Council to award a four-year scholarship.
In 2012, the Madison Charitable Foundation, founded by Houston, Texas, businessman and Mississippi native Wiley H. Hatcher, awarded the Women’s Council $25,000. The Foundation recently increased its gift, awarding an additional $225,000 to the program.
“The Ole Miss Women's Council is grateful to the Madison Charitable Foundation for its generous endowment, which will allow us to add another four-year scholarship award to our program, assisting a qualified need-based freshman,” said Karen Moore, OMWC chair. “Our program focuses on leadership, mentorship and philanthropy, and the Madison Charitable Foundation is a great example of these qualities.”
The OMWC will honor the Madison Charitable Foundation at its Rose Garden Ceremony on April 15.
Helmed by an accomplished cadre of female leaders and philanthropists, the OMWC provides scholarships for tuition and books as well as guidance and training in leadership skills, career development and personal growth throughout the students’ tenure at the university.
Scholars are guided by career mentors and sitting members of the OMWC and participate in leadership training, mentoring, community service projects, cultural enrichment activities and alumni networking.
The Madison Charitable Foundation also designated $40,000 to support the OMWC’s Leadership Series.
“Our leadership program benefits not only the scholars in our program, but also students from across the campus who recognize the importance of developing and assessing leadership skills,” Moore said. “The Madison Foundation’s contribution to the Leadership Series will allow Ole Miss to give its students the tools they need to serve, inspire and empower others.”
University of Mississippi alumnus James “Joc” Carpenter – Hatcher’s longtime business partner and a member of the Madison Charitable Foundation’s board of directors – said in choosing a charity, the Foundation looks for organizations that are improving lives.
“With the program that the OMWC has established for their scholars, it’s almost a can’t-miss for success,” said Carpenter, an accountancy major who graduated from Ole Miss in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and is a member of the UM Foundation board of directors. “To provide these students with a quality education while having somebody mentor them along the way is invaluable.”
Since its inception in 2007, the Madison Charitable Foundation has been a generous UM supporter. It has made significant contributions to the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts and the Ole Miss Opportunity scholarship program. It also established an endowment for the Ole Miss First scholarship program and donated $1 million to the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Individuals and organizations can support the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy by sending a check with OMWC noted in the memo line to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655 or by visiting www.umfoundation.com/makeagift.
By Bill Dabney