Ten years ago, MDC's report, "The State of the South 2007: Philanthropy as the South's 'Passing Gear,'" (ED519455) examined how philanthropy can accelerate progress toward a South that is both equitable for all its residents and competitive with other regions of the country. A decade later, our second iteration, commissioned by the…

Florida benefits from a unique private-public partnership that encourages the 11 state universities to establish endowments for academic initiatives. The basic premise is to provide donors with an incentive in the form of matching state grants, thereby increasing the value of the donation. Since 1979, the state universities have used the matching…