"The Watson-Brown Foundation, through creativity, diligence and financial support, labors to improve education in the American South by funding its schools and students, preserving its history, encouraging responsible scholarship, and promoting the memory and values of our spiritual founders."

The mission statement of the Foundation fully captures the intent of its founder, Walter J. Brown. In 1970, Brown established the Watson-Brown Foundation primarily to provide "college opportunities for underprivileged boys and girls." Named for Thomas E. Watson and J.J. Brown, the Foundation awards annually more than $2.4 million in merit and need-based college scholarships to students from a sixteen county region of Georgia and South Carolina.

Walter Brown also set a precedent for preservation, especially as it related to the history of the South. Today, the Foundation owns and operates three historic sites in Georgia and explores history through the eyes of the men who created them.

Finally, the Foundation operates a grant program that encourages responsible scholarship on the South and supports historic preservation.

The Foundation is based in Thomson, Georgia, hometown of Thomas E. Watson.