#IAMPEARL Fund

When Communities Foundation of Texas began in 1953, it was known as the Dallas Community Chest Trust Fund. The first six-figure, major gift to the Dallas Community Chest Trust Fund was in 1955 from Pearl C. Anderson.

Pearl grew up in rural Louisiana during the days of racial segregation and was prohibited from going to school until the age of 12 when a school for black children was finally built a few miles from her home. Every day, she would walk by a plaque that credited a foundation-the Rosenwald Fund-with establishing her school.

Pearl vowed that one day, she would pay back the debt she owed to those who made it possible for her to get an education. And she brought that dream to the Dallas Community Chest Trust Fund with her gift to create the Pearl C. Anderson Fund at CFT. Pearl gifted a residual interest in a trust consisting of a prime piece of land in downtown Dallas valued at $325,000. All she asked was that the money from the eventual sale of the land was used to help "the poor, young people and other struggling people, without regard to their race or religion."

The fund will honor and lift the legacy of Pearl C. Anderson while providing a visible and public space for CFT staff and external stakeholders to learn about Pearl C. Anderson and her significance to Communities Foundation of Texas. With an increased focus on equity and the welcoming of more diverse voices to the philanthropic community, the fund will establish a space for more inclusivity around the process of giving through a fund, and subsequently, help direct philanthropic dollars in mutually agreed-upon focus area(s).