NCCF Homepage
2023 Impact Report

Rooted In Generosity and Creating Opportunities For Hope

Honored to serve North Carolina for 35 years

The North Carolina Community Foundation marked 35 years in 2023. This milestone is a testament to the generosity of our state, our compelling mission, and the dedication of fundholders and partners like you who believe in creating opportunities for hope in our communities.

 

Our 2023 Impact Report not only showcases achievements over the past year but also underscores how your generosity supports communities over the long term. Endowments established at NCCF decades ago are making a lasting impact, and through thoughtful stewardship will continue to do so for generations to come.

 

Thanks to our donors and the 1,200 funds established over the past 35 years, we are able to do more in — and for — our communities than ever before. With you, we provided $28.6 million in grants and scholarships this year. Just five years ago, that figure was $15.8 million. We have nearly doubled our support of communities thanks to your partnership and commitment to philanthropy.

 

Our work each day exemplifies our shared values of Community, Partnership and Stewardship. We do not do this work alone. Rather, we believe our collective impact will strengthen communities. Local leadership, impactful grantmaking and engaged fundholders combine to ensure success.

 

Together, we are dedicated to enhancing the well-being of all North Carolinians, fostering collaboration to achieve common goals, and assisting donors in creating philanthropic legacies that benefit communities now and in the future.

 

Thank you for trusting us to create opportunities that provide hope and strengthen us all.

 

We look forward to continuing to work with you. If you have questions or want to discuss your philanthropic goals, please contact us.

 

With gratitude,

Katharine “Kack” H. Hardin
Chair, Board of Directors
Jennifer Tolle Whiteside
President & CEO

Our 2023 Impact

1,281 Total charitable funds
41 New funds
$27.3M Grants made to charitable organizations
3,055 Number of grants to charitable organizations
$1.3M Scholarships to students
347 Scholarships awarded

Community Connection

Number of grants to organizations
3,055
Grants in 2023
$27.3M
Burevitch Grants Strengthen Eastern NC

The Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment supports charitable programs focusing on education, health and human services in 41 eastern North Carolina counties. Established in 2015, the endowment has made $8 million in grants.

In 2023, NCCF awarded $550,000 in grants to 13 organizations for a broad range of programs, including Profound Ladies for recruiting and mentoring women of color educators; Ripe for Revival for addressing food insecurity through a mobile market; and My Sister's House for providing safe shelter for justice-involved women.

Ripe for Revival's Mobile Market.
Ripe for Revival's Mobile Market.
Profound Ladies Impact Leader Leaundra Clay.
Profound Ladies Impact Leader Leaundra Clay.
Profound Ladies offers training and career development.
Profound Ladies offers training and career development.
Profound Ladies recruits and trains educators.
Profound Ladies recruits and trains educators.
My Sister's House provides supportive shelter.
My Sister's House provides supportive shelter.
Our Affiliates

Serving 60 counties, our local affiliate foundations are our roots in communities and act as a catalyst for additional philanthropic growth. Throughout 2023, our affiliates supported their communities by:

  • Being a strong and committed board
  • Inspiring philanthropy
  • Being effective grant makers
  • Promoting philanthropy
  • Serving as community leaders
By the Numbers
Affiliates
53
NC counties served
60
Grants made by affiliates
629
Awarded
$1.5M
Wake County Community Foundation
Wake County Community Foundation
Lee County Community Foundation
Lee County Community Foundation
Onslow Caring Communities Foundation
Onslow Caring Communities Foundation
Currituck-Dare Community Foundation
Currituck-Dare Community Foundation
Ashe County Community Foundation
Ashe County Community Foundation
Women Supporting Communities

A giving circle brings together a group of people with shared values to pool together donations and collectively award grants to charitable organizations. NCCF proudly supports women’s giving circles in providing funds to community organizations and supporting local women and girls.

By the Numbers
Women’s Giving Circles
6
Women’s Giving Circle Members
313
Grants Awarded By Giving Circles to Nonprofits
$180,000
Grants Made By Giving Circles
35
Cary Women's Giving Network and 2023 grantees.
Cary Women's Giving Network and 2023 grantees.
Women's Giving Network of Wake County leadership.
Women's Giving Network of Wake County leadership.
WGN of Wake awarded $30,000 to The Women’s Center.
WGN of Wake awarded $30,000 to The Women’s Center.
WGN of Wake awarded $35,000 to the Hope Center at Pullen.
WGN of Wake awarded $35,000 to the Hope Center at Pullen.
Members of Moore Women - A Giving Circle.
Members of Moore Women - A Giving Circle.

Teaming Up With Communities

Philanthropy can help fill the gaps to support communities, and NCCF and our fundholders have readily stepped in to do so.

 

In Wilson, the Shreve family established an endowment in 2023 to provide ongoing philanthropic support for maintenance and future construction at the J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex, which is owned and managed by the city of Wilson.

 

Learn more about how NCCF fundholders are working to support their communities.

Generosity in Action

Adventures in Giving
Kennedy Endowment Fund
Part of the Solution
King’s Ridge Sustainability Endowment
Protecting North Carolina's Coast
Webster-Lyerly Endowment for Coastal Resource Protection

Growing Our Impact

41 new funds were established in 2023 at NCCF. Read the full list and learn about three below.
North Carolina Arts Foundation A+ Schools Endowment
Feeding Avery Families Endowment
Michelle S. Hedrick Teacher Scholarship

Supporting Students

$1.3M Scholarships awarded
309 Students who received
scholarships
$1.1M Scholarship funds going
to NC institutions
95 Scholars who are first-
generation college
students
347 Number of NCCF-
administered
scholarships awarded

NCCF Scholars

Lula Rose Bovino
Inaugural recipient of the Dr. Donald W. Bentley Scholarship
Elise Hines
Recipient of the Elizabeth Brasswell Sheffield Scholarship
Kadiatou Diawara
Recipient of the New Bern Breakfast Rotary Todd Denson Memorial Scholarship
A Legacy of Community Giving
John E. Cooper III Memorial Scholarship
A Small Act of Restitution
Howe Scholarship Endowment
Stewardship

NCCF brings generous people together, combining resources to make an exponential, permanent impact throughout North Carolina.

In 2023, NCCF marked its 35th anniversary. Established by Lewis R. Holding, we are still rooted in our founding mission to support rural philanthropy. Today, NCCF has $439 million* in assets and sustains over 1,200 charitable funds. We have awarded over $270 million in grants and scholarships since 1988.

*Unaudited figure as of Dec. 31, 2023

Our Investment Strategy 

Prudent investment stewardship is essential to our mission of building long-term charitable assets for the benefit of our communities. Our investment strategy, steered by our outside professional asset managers, is disciplined, balanced and driven by the long-term returns necessary for achieving our collective philanthropic goals.

Gather
Grow
Grant
What We Value

Our statewide Board of Directors worked in 2023 to review and refresh our values, ultimately endorsing the values of Community, Partnership and Stewardship.

These values will serve as a guidepost in our work and mission as we move forward. They reflect our mission and are aspirational in guiding us on what our work can and should be in 2024 and in the future. Together, we are strengthening our communities and people today and for generations to come.

Community
Partnership
Stewardship
Read the full 2023 impact report