Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation celebrates 50th anniversary

With a half-century of accomplishments under its belt, the Winthrop Rockfeller Foundation has big plans to expand its reach on its 50th anniversary.

Founded after the death of its namesake, Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, the foundation has had a mission for 50 years of partnering with other nonprofits to make grants “to relentlessly pursue economic, educational, social, ethnic, and racial equity for all.”

Dr. Sherece West-Scantlebury, CEO of the foundation, said the half-century milestone is a reflective moment for the organization.

“It’s a profound moment for us, A profound moment of reflection, gratitude, and resolve really to carry out the governor’s mission is what it means. And it’s pretty special. Fifty years of grant making in the state of Arkansas, prayerfully making a positive contribution,” she said.

One of the turning points for the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation came in its early years, West-Scantlebury said. It involved the funding of several Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), like Southern Bancorp and others.

“in terms of economic equity, ensuring that those who are unbanked or do not have access to banking instruments, the foundation helped to found what is the community development financial institutions in our state with Southern Bancorp, Forge and Hope Credit Union. And those are now institutions in our state who work with those who are either unbanked or have a hard time getting banked,” she said.

“Those banks that would not lend to small or marginal businesses, the CDFIs in our state do that. So I would say it’s pivotal because if they didn’t exist, then those folks would still have a harder time approaching traditional banks or may have to even go out of the state to get capital that the CDFIs in our state provide,” West-Scantlebury added.

She points to the work the foundation is doing now to help ALICE families – citizens who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed. The underbanked represent a group of individuals that are working, but still struggling to keep their heads above water. One major financial incident can lead to bankruptcy for these ALICE families.

As part of its 50th anniversary, West-Scantlebury said WRF is launching a new $50 million capital campaign, the Arkansas Enterprise Capital Grant Fund. The fund’s early investors are the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Arkansas Community Foundation, and Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation.

The money will be used to invest in nonprofit work across Arkansas.

“We need those dollars to invest in the nonprofits who are working on behalf of our ALICE families. Sustainability is a huge issue for our nonprofits in our state and having a sound nonprofit infrastructure is just important for civil society writ large, but definitely here in Arkansas,” she said.

“There are some current grantee partners and ones that we hope to make in the future where we plan to invest in their organization. And I say ‘invest’ intentionally, not just a grant, but actually enabling them to use those dollars to invest in the capacity and sustainability of those organizations,” she added.

You can watch West-Scantlebury’s full interview in the video below.