The Origins of the Initiative
The National Geographic Society founded its Geography Education Program in 1985. The Geography Education Program was established because of NGS President Gilbert Grosvenor’s concern that American young people were dangerously close to geographic illiteracy. Fearing that such ignorance was undermining the nation’s social, political, and environmental leadership, the Society launched a long-term effort to restore geography to the classroom and to instill in our students a sense of the world and their place in it. Mr. Grosvenor led this effort to put geography back on the map of American education. To do so he and the society teamed academic and professional geographers with classroom teachers. In the process the Society sought to make all Americans more aware that geography is central to our lives and central to the future not only of the country but also to the local places where we live our lives.
Joe Ferguson, a native of Durant, Mississippi, and a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, was the first person hired to staff this new National Geographic Society program.
The Mississippi Geography Alliance
Continuing its efforts, the Society in 1986 established the NGS Alliance Network starting in eight states and eventually spreading to all fifty states. The purposes of the state alliances were to link classroom teachers with geographers to create a permanent national infrastructure for the continuing professional development of classroom teachers and, through them, to improve students’ geographic knowledge, understanding, and application of geography in their daily lives.
The Mississippi Geography Alliance, a volunteer association of K-12 teachers and academic geographers, was one of the first state alliances to be established. Since its inception in the late 1980s, thousands of teachers and prospective teachers have participated in the alliance’s institutes and workshops.
The Mississippi Geography Education Endowment Fund
In September 1988, as part of its centennial celebration, the National Geographic Society established the National Geographic Society Education Foundation to provide a permanent and expanding source of financial support for geography education. The establishment of the foundation was announced in the September 1988 NGS Magazine, noting that the National Geographic Society would match dollar-for-dollar contributions to endow the foundation. This announcement in turn triggered what has become a wonderful long-term partnership between the Society and the Phil Hardin Foundation.
The Hardin Foundation was established in 1964 by Phil Hardin, a Meridian, Mississippi, bachelor and baker. Mr. Hardin died in 1972. He left virtually his entire estate to the foundation that bore his name. The estate was eventually settled and distributed to the foundation in 1977. The good news was that after receiving Mr. Hardin’s estate, the total value of the foundation’s assets was about $6.9 million. The bad news was the Hardin Foundation then became the largest private foundation in Mississippi. All of the private foundations in Mississippi combined (and there were about 70) had a total of around $61 million in assets.
For the Hardin Foundation board and staff, this meant looking for ways to multiply their limited philanthropic resources available for grant making each year. The 1988 article about the establishment of the NGS Foundation and the opportunity for matching funds therefore was of great interest. The Hardin Foundation directors authorized the foundation staff to explore matching possibilities with the Society and, later, the Chisholm Foundation of Laurel, Mississippi.
After discussions among these partners, NGS agreed in 1989 to establish an endowed fund to encourage, increase, and improve the teaching of geography in Mississippi and to increase and disseminate geographic knowledge more broadly in that state. This Mississippi Geography Endowment Education Fund was the first state endowment established in the Society’s Education Foundation. There now are 24 state endowments.
The Gift of the Maddox Foundation
Around the year 2000 a new voice was added to the story of philanthropy in Mississippi: The Maddox Foundation found a home in Hernando, Mississippi, and a call, ultimately, to be only one of four or five Mississippi foundations having a statewide mission. Maddox’s especial call is the development of a strong and effective non-profit infrastructure; an understanding of the importance of public policy and its development; and to raise up as a model the importance of building endowments to provide permanent charitable resources supporting local collaborations and actions.
In late 2005 the Maddox Foundation made a grant of $500,000 to the National Geographic Society Education Foundation to grow the Mississippi Geography Education Endowment Fund. The Education Foundation matched the Maddox grant, thereby increasing the Mississippi Endowment to more than $3 million. The Mississippi Endowment is now the largest of the NGS Education Foundation’s state endowments.
The J. Joe Ferguson Geography Education Endowment Fund
The importance for America and Americans for understanding geography was underscored on September 11, 2001, when Joe (then NGS Director of Education Outreach) and his NGS colleague Ann Judge, along with three sixth grade students and their teachers accompanying them on an NGS education project, were killed by terrorists when their plane crashed into the Pentagon.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated large parts of Mississippi, Louisiana, and some parts of Alabama. The events of September 11, 2001, and the continuing consequences of Katrina’s onslaught demonstrated the need for a permanent strategic funding resource to mobilize and apply geographic knowledge in nimble, thoughtful, compelling, and effective ways to address disasters and other strategic challenges and opportunities to renew, rebuild, and re-create the places where Mississippians live their lives.
The National Geographic Society Education Foundation and the Phil Hardin Foundation therefore have agreed to use the J. Joe Ferguson Geography Education Fund to support pre-K through twelfth grade geographic education initiatives that constructively address such disasters, challenges, and opportunities.
Funding
The Mississippi Geography Education Endowment Fund now totals more than $3 million. The J. Joe Ferguson Geography Education Endowment Fund now totals $1 million. It is hoped that both funds will grow significantly in the future.
To accomplish the purposes of these two funds, the NGS Education Foundation uses annual endowment income to make grants to appropriate organizations. Please note, however, that the annual income from the Joe Ferguson Fund will be used to fund one large grant a year to be used carefully and strategically to further the fund’s goals. During the first ten years of the existence, the fund will give priority to geography education proposals in geographic areas of Mississippi affected by Hurricane Katrina.
How to Apply
To receive information and application procedures about the Mississippi Geography Education Endowment Fund and the J. Joe Ferguson Geography Education Endowment Fund, please contact the Phil Hardin Foundation. |
