The legacy that Beth Boney Jenkins leaves from her work at the North Carolina Community Foundation was evident by the crowd that gathered to celebrate her retirement.

Friends, family, colleagues, donors and community leaders gathered on Feb. 24 at the Bellamy Mansion Museum in Wilmington to celebrate Beth’s retirement. With 26 years of distinguished service to NCCF, she has one of the longest tenures in the foundation’s history.

To honor her work, Beth was inducted into The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, an honor granted to individuals who have shown extraordinary service to the state of North Carolina. Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo presented the award.

Through Beth’s work at NCCF, hundreds of charitable funds have been established in perpetuity to support community needs, with many of those in eastern North Carolina’s poorest rural communities.

“Eastern North Carolina will never be the same because of the work of Beth,” NCCF President and CEO Jennifer Tolle Whiteside told the crowd. “Beth has touched communities, has touched people, and has increased their generosity. Literally millions of dollars are in communities because of the work of Beth Boney Jenkins. And that is not just now, it’s forever.”

Beth joined NCCF in August 2000 as Eastern Region Associate and went on to serve in multiple roles, including Vice President of Affiliate Services and Vice President of Development, where she led affiliate and fund growth efforts across eastern North Carolina.

Among her many accomplishments, Beth played a key role in creating the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment, which has distributed more than $10 million to eastern North Carolina nonprofits since 2015. She also helped bring the Community Foundation of Southeastern NC into NCCF’s affiliate network and, in partnership with the New Hanover County affiliate and Dr. Bertha Todd, established the 1898 Memorial Fund, an endowment supporting race relations work in the Cape Fear region.

Before joining NCCF, Beth served in legislative and government roles with the NC General Assembly, the Office of the Governor, and the U.S. House of Representatives. She spent seven years as Executive Director of Arts Together, Inc., and worked with the Cape Fear Council of Governments.

At the celebration, Mayor Saffo reflected on her impact. “Beth is a good hometown person that really cares about this community,” he said. “Beth’s leadership and generosity, vision and community involvement has and will have a lasting impact on North Carolina for many years to come.”

Always humble, Beth redirected the spotlight to those around her. “This is not about me. This is about every one of you standing here,” she said. “You all are the DNA and the architecture of the North Carolina Community Foundation. The sky’s the limit for us. Just continue climbing the ladder to make this organization all it can be.”