The Mississippi Alliance Annual Member Meeting was held at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on April 8 in the Craig H. Neilson auditorium.

This year, we celebrated our third anniversary. In three short years, the staff has quadrupled. The depth and breadth of program offerings have expanded, and The Alliance is living into its mission to serve, build capacity, and foster collaboration among and between Mississippi’s nonprofit and philanthropic communities. We hope that every Member Meeting deepens that commitment.

The theme of the annual meeting was Connecting the  Links: The Power of Strategic Alliances and featured a panel of representatives from the sectors that drive social change in Mississippi; nonprofit, philanthropic, public, private, and voluntary.

Moderated by the talented Marshall Ramsey, Editor-at-Large at Mississippi Today, the panel consisted of Stacy Crain of DOVIA, Dr. Ann Marie Kinnell of the University of Southern Mississippi, Rachel Ramjattan, President and CEO of Nonprofits Plus LLC, Scott Waller, CEO of the MS Economic Council, and Tanya Webber, Assistant Secretary of State, Charities Division. In addition to the dynamic panel discussion, the Innovations Lab was formally introduced in a special presentation by Dave Miller,  Chief Program Officer for The Alliance. The accompanying video, by Blue Magnolia Films is linked below. Storytelling is a vital component of Lab participation. The ability for a nonprofit to tell  its story in a compelling and innovative way takes a concept or mission to the next level. We invite you to watch the video, as well as other Alliance videos on our YouTube channel linked below.

In the “A Word from Our Members” portion of the meeting, we heard from two outstanding leaders. Leia Hill, Vice President of Advancement and Executive Director of the Meridian Community College Foundation, and Melanie Powell, Executive Director of Community Foundation for Washington County, each of whom shared their engaging stories about the value of strategic alliances.

And of course, we recognized those that have made The Alliance what it is today from the ground up. 

Consultants that helped to create The Alliance were Mary Ellen Calvert, Nancy Perret, Jan Eastman, and Jason Thompson. Mike Ward was recognized posthumously for his contributions as well. We are forever indebted to them for their vision and crucial work. 

We were pleased to recognize our outgoing board members, and to welcome our incoming board members. Much gratitude was expressed to Samuel Burke, Mike Clayborne, Sheila Grogan, Michael Cormack and Aisha Nyandoro for their service as board members.  A warm welcome was extended to Portia Ballard Espy, Rodger Wilder, Holly Lange, Reena Evers Everette and Mary Ann Plasencia, our new board members.  

We are deeply grateful to  those of you who were able to attend in person or virtually, and hope that if you missed the meeting, you will take a moment to reflect on the materials linked here, and send your comments or questions to communications@alliancems.org. Member meetings are about you. Your needs, your voices, your expertise and experience make every encounter with our members a rich and rewarding experience. Thank you!

The Alliance Innovations Lab – YouTube

Annual Member Meeting – YouTube

MS Alliance of Nonprofits & Philanthropy – YouTube