Shana South

Shana R. South is the Chief Financial Officer of the Christian Community Foundation of Memphis and the Mid-South (CCF, which also brands itself "Hope CCF"). She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Arkansas State University. In her role she oversees the foundation's financial management and strategic financial oversight — a substantial responsibility given that CCF administers donor-advised funds and has granted well over $800 million (approaching $1 billion since inception) to charities and ministries.

Before joining CCF, South worked as Manager of Accounting at CCL Label, where she managed accounting functions in the commercial printing/labeling sector, handling regulatory compliance and financial operations. That corporate accounting background underpins her current work managing the compliance, reporting, and fund-accounting demands of a large donor-advised-fund platform.

CCF Memphis was founded in 1992 to facilitate strategic, faith-motivated charitable giving. It sits alongside President Preston Frazer and Director of Donor Relations Stephanie Jones on the leadership team, and is governed by a board of roughly two dozen members. South's CFO role centers on stewarding the pooled and donor-advised assets that fund the foundation's grantmaking across Memphis and beyond.

• CCF's "investing" is philanthropic, not venture: it helps individuals and families open donor-advised funds (DAFs) and then directs grants to charities, churches, and ministries the donors choose.
• The foundation's stated purpose is to "facilitate the building of God's kingdom in our community and throughout the world" and to drive "transformation of the city of Memphis through churches and ministries that combine Christian faith and Christian action" across spiritual, academic, economic, and relational dimensions.
• Grantmaking areas span religion, education, human services, health, children and youth, housing, economic development, financial literacy, and criminal justice.
• The Hope for Memphis Fund makes grants — and, notably, loans — from CCF's surplus/earnings and from donations; Christian ministries in Memphis can apply for capacity-building grants. This mission-loan mechanism is the closest thing to "investing" in the organization's model.
• What earns a "yes": alignment with Christian mission and measurable community impact in Memphis/the Mid-South; grants are largely donor-directed for program support.