Mississippi College Foundation Leader Don Phillips Receives Award

A longtime Mississippi College supporter, Don Phillips helped energize his alma mater’s successful fund drives over the years.

What began as a five-year $65 million Growing the Vision Campaign ended up raising $87.4 million for Mississippi College when it ended in 2011 with Phillips playing a major role.

The president of the MC Foundation, a trustee at the Christian university and retired businessman, Phillips is getting noticed for his successful work as a fundraiser in the Magnolia State. In fact, he’s helped generate more than $100 million for his alma maters, Mississippi College and Holmes Community College as well as other Mississippi non-profits.

Spotlighting his splendid service, the Mississippi chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals will present Phillips with its 2014 Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year Award at a Jackson luncheon on November 14. The association consists of 30,000 members from 230 chapters worldwide with its mission to promote philanthropic efforts.

The award for Dr. Phillips on Friday comes less than 24 hours before the association celebrates National Philanthropy Day. Mississippi College President Lee Royce believes the wonderful honor for Dr. Phillips is well-deserved.

“We treasure the extraordinary service that Dr. Don Phillips provides Mississippi College as an influential leader at his alma mater,” Royce said.

“As an MC trustee, and president of the university’s Foundation Board, Don has worked tirelessly for years on the Growing the Vision Campaign and other efforts to raise money to build student scholarships, strengthen the institution’s endowment, grow academic programs and construct campus facilities,” Royce added.

“We applaud the AFP for selecting Dr. Phillips as its Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year in Mississippi for 2014,” he said. “Don is certainly an excellent choice for this prestigious statewide honor.”

In addition, Phillips, a 1954 MC graduate, and his wife, Sue, recently made a major gift responsible for construction of the new Mississippi College president’s home. It’s fittingly being called the Phillips House. In the early 2000s, he was instrumental in creation of the Mississippi College Foundation Board and served as its initial president. MC leaders deeply appreciate his service and awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Other colleagues in the MC family are delighted to see Dr. Phillips get recognized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The former MC Choctaws basketball standout is a true champion of the 5,000-student Baptist-affiliated university.

“Dr. Don Phillips is a superb businessman who is dedicated to giving back and creating opportunities for others,” says Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Howard. “He embodies the best qualities of the term Christian gentleman and philanthropist. Needless to say, Mississippi College is quite proud to call him one of our most outstanding alumni.”

MC trustee Andy Taggart, a Ridgeland attorney, says he learned a great deal serving alongside him. “Don Phillips is one of the wisest, kindest and most generous people I have ever known.”

This latest honor for Dr. Phillips is a perfect fit, Taggart believes. “He seems to me to be the very person for whom a recognition like this should have been created.”

As a strong advocate for Holmes Community College, Phillips, a 1952 graduate, chairs the school’s capital campaign that’s raised $10 million towards a goal of $11 million. He remains an effective fundraiser as president of the Mynelle Gardens Botanical Society in Jackson, and serves on the Mississippi Agriculture, Aviation and Forestry Museum Board.

Dr. Phillips created the annual MC athletics banquet that’s generated more than $1 million for Choctaws sports programs over the past 13 years on the Clinton campus.