Madison Foundation Expands Support of Women’s Council Scholars

UM Foundation President Wendell Weakley (left) greets Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy Chair Karen Moore and Madison Charitable Foundation Director Joc Carpenter in front of The Mentor statue near the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

Impressed by the Ole Miss Women’s Council‘s 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 for a four-year scholarship at the University of Mississippi.

In 2012, the Madison Charitable Foundation, founded by Houston, Texas, businessman and Mississippi native Wiley H. Hatcher, awarded $25,000 to the Women’s Council. 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 April 15 Rose Garden ceremony.

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.”

In choosing a charity, the foundation looks for organizations that are improving lives, said UM alumnus James “Joc” Carpenter, Hatcher’s longtime business partner and a member of the Madison Charitable Foundation’s board of directors.

“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 UM 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 http://www.umfoundation.com/makeagift.

Courtesy of Bill Dabney and the Ole Miss News Desk