J. Bulow Campbell Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia, Built on Presbyterian Layman’s Estate

The Atlanta-based J. Bulow Campbell Foundation was founded in 1940 and is the second-largest foundation in Georgia. Based on total assets in 2003, it ranked seventh among the top 50 U.S. foundations awarding grants in the state and 74th among the top 100 national independent foundations.

John Bulow Campbell was born in Atlanta on December 15, 1870. As a child he worked in a jewelry store in the early hours before school, and while a student at Ivy Street Public School he sold paper, pencils and supplies to classmates to help his family’s income. He enrolled at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville in 1886 and graduated as class valedictorian. He then returned to Atlanta to work for the R. O. Coal Company, operated by his brother. He became president of the company in 1912, and it was renamed the Campbell Coal Company during his tenure. He served as chair of the board from 1929 until his death in 1940.

His church life was closely tied to the Presbyterian Church. He became active in the denomination as a student in Milledgeville, where he joined a local congregation. After returning to Atlanta he transferred his membership to Central Presbyterian Church, where his mother had been a member since 1866. His association with Central lasted his whole life, and he served as a lay leader, a Sunday school teacher and a devoted supporter of the congregation’s activities.

Campbell’s giving reflected his view that education and ethical leadership were essential to the future of a South recovering from war and poverty. He volunteered as a trustee, advisor and donor to institutions including the Berry Schools, Agnes Scott College and Rabun Gap–Nacoochee School. He also helped bring a Presbyterian seminary to Atlanta from South Carolina and later ensured that Columbia Theological Seminary would have a permanent home in Decatur. His gifts were typically anonymous, a custom that began early in his business career, when he quietly provided coal to people who could not afford to pay for it, a practice that echoes the care for the needy described in Isaiah 58:7.

The foundation’s governing terms, drawn from Campbell’s philanthropic goals, personal beliefs and his will, direct support toward privately supported education, youth development, the arts and Christian agencies of the Presbyterian Church, though not congregations, that are active in its giving areas. It gives priority to capital funding, endowments, land acquisition, matching or challenge support, and building and renovation. Most of its giving is in Georgia, with limited support in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Campbell’s daughter, Virginia Campbell Courts (1906–95), played a major role in developing and running the foundation during her lifetime, and she kept stewardship, fiscal responsibility, planning and spiritual values at the center of its work.

Campbell died in 1940 and left the bulk of his estate to establish a trust foundation, which is known today as the J. Bulow Campbell Foundation. When it was created, the foundation held assets of about $6 million. By 2005 its assets were approximately $600 million. Between 1940 and 2005 it disbursed about $385 million.

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