The Black Belt Community Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to work with all of our citizens to help improve the quality of life in a region that stretches from Mississippi to Georgia. The 12-county area that is our focus is almost one-sixth of the land area of the state. It is home for nearly a quarter of a million people. Rich in human, geographic, cultural and economic diversity, Alabama’s Black Belt got its name from the rich, dark soil found here. The area also is home to the highest percentage of African American Residents in Alabama. The Black Belt Community Foundation’s mission is to forge a collective stream of giving. Founded in 2004 with the idea that those living and working in the Black Belt best knew the area’s challenges and opportunities, the Black Belt Community Foundation actively puts needed resources into the region to make a lasting impact. The foundation operates in three main areas: Giving (BBCF awards community program and arts grants to over 100 nonprofits in the region each year); Receiving (BBCF is actively working to raise the profile of philanthropy in the region, encouraging gifts from individuals and organizations of all sizes from across the state and around the world); and Growing (BBCF offers leadership training, organizational capacity building, and community collaboration to grow the skills needed to transform our communities). Through these areas, BBCF’s focus is to consolidate many region-wide improvement efforts into a common effort with a simple mission: “taking what we have to make what we need.”