A lasting legacy: Wayland L. Jenkins Jr. and NCCF
When the North Carolina Community Foundation announced a nearly $22 million gift from the estate of Wayland L. Jenkins Jr. to create a permanent endowment for Bertie and Hertford counties, it was the defining moment in a decades-long partnership.
A Bertie County native and longtime community leader, Jenkins helped establish the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation, an NCCF affiliate, in 1999 to provide support for communities that historically had fewer resources. “Wayland wanted a way for local people to help local people, especially after Hurricane Floyd hit (in 1999). That’s really when the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation came to life,” recalled Peggy Birkemeier, a retired NCCF associate.
Jenkins made the initial gift to launch the Bertie-Hertford affiliate of NCCF, served on its advisory board for several years, and later continued to attend meetings to offer encouragement and perspective.
“Wayland appreciated NCCF’s affiliate model because he knew it was about local people making decisions about local needs,” said NCCF President and CEO Jennifer Tolle Whiteside. “He believed in our approach to rural philanthropy and he trusted us.”
“He chose the North Carolina Community Foundation because of their emphasis on rural philanthropy,” said Laura Beasley, the current president of the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation, who knew Jenkins well. “His vision was always bigger than any of us realized.”
Jenkins’ commitment to community was rooted in his experiences. After graduating from Aulander High School and Wake Forest College, he served in the U.S. Army in Germany before returning home to the family automobile business.
Over the years, he became known not only as a successful businessman but also as a dedicated philanthropist. He traveled the world, but kept his home in Ahoskie and remained focused on strengthening eastern North Carolina, telling NCCF in 2014: “I am so big on these two counties and this region that I always want us to ask ourselves, ‘What can we do for the area?’”
Jenkins established a donor advised fund with NCCF in 2000 and made hundreds of grants during his lifetime supporting education, churches, historic preservation, food insecurity, and public safety.
In 2012, he approached NCCF with the idea of turning his fund into a permanent endowment that would support Bertie and Hertford counties forever.
“Wayland wanted his local community to continue guiding his charitable giving after his death,” said Tolle Whiteside. To make that possible, he structured the fund so NCCF’s Bertie-Hertford affiliate could advise it, keeping grantmaking decisions in local hands.
“It was a dream realized that he did not have to establish his own foundation and worry about the management of that. He could partner with the North Carolina Community Foundation to leave his legacy in this area, to trust that organization to be wise stewards, invest the funds properly, and rely on the local affiliate board to have the capacity to make grants annually,” said John Tayloe, a longtime friend of Jenkins and a Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation board member.
“The staff at NCCF really guided Wayland every step of the way. They helped him think through how to structure the endowment and made sure his wishes for supporting the community were honored,” said NCCF Director of Community Leadership Natalie Jenkins Peel.
Jenkins worked with his professional advisor on plans to contribute his estate to the endowment.
When Jenkins died in 2024, NCCF learned the magnitude of his gift: nearly $22 million. Announced in June 2025, the endowment will fund a robust community grantmaking program for Bertie and Hertford counties, communities that have long faced economic challenges.
Managed with guidance from the Bertie-Hertford affiliate, just as Jenkins intended, the endowment will ensure grant decisions remain in local hands. Grants are expected to be made beginning in 2026, providing a permanent source of funding to sustain charitable giving for generations.