Indianola leaders create endowment for B.B. King Museum

Indianola raised $14 million to accomplish its vision of designing and building the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. Including the cotton gin where B.B. King worked as a young man, the museum takes advantage of Northwest Mississippi’s asset as birthplace of the Blues and outstanding musicians.

In its first six years, the Indianola museum has told its story to over 30,000 visitors from all 50 states and over 35 countries. To keep serving these visitors and reaching out to the community, the museum needs operating funds for staff, programs, and maintenance every year.

The museum’s chairman, Bill McPherson of Indianola, joined with his cousins Tom and Walton Gresham to establish an Endowment that will cover a portion of those costs every year. They started the endowment at the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi with a combined $400,000 donation. Thanks to support from the Maddox Foundation, the Community Foundation added $100,000 to the Endowment. With professional investment management, the Endowment will provide up to $25,000 every year toward the Museum’s continued operation and outreach while preserving the donor’s original investment.