For the past five years, we’ve been proud to see the boards of advisors of our local affiliate foundations across the state devote every November to the pivotal task of building permanent assets for their local communities.

This mission to build charitable assets is central to who we are as a community foundation. The Chairman’s Challenge has progressed to become a transformational force in continuing to build everlasting philanthropic funding across rural North Carolina.

We’re thrilled to report that these efforts are producing remarkable results. The campaign total reached $1.8 million raised to support community grantmaking through local affiliates this year, a milestone for the campaign.

In 2017, the campaign brought in $550,692, making it the largest ever. Of that, $450,692 was received in direct donations to local affiliate foundations and $100,000 was given as a match by several anonymous donors.

The five-year total is a testament to the generosity of North Carolinians, according to Jennifer Tolle Whiteside, NCCF CEO and president. “In just five years, our neighbors across the state have given $1.8 million to help their local communities grow even stronger,” she said. “We continue to be grateful to be able to steward these funds.”

The campaign is largely conducted through local letters personalized by affiliate advisory board members to their friends and neighbors. Many boards literally sit around a table and write personal notes to the recipients they know, according to Beth Boney Jenkins, NCCF vice president for development. “People respond because they know their neighbors are asking them to give back to their communities.” she added.

This year, we’re proud to report that 100% of active NCCF affiliates participated in the campaign. While most can report solid results for 2017, we wanted to brag about a few outstanding accomplishments.

Our top three affiliates, by amount raised are:

• Yadkin County Community Foundation
• Montgomery County Fund
• Onslow Caring Communities Foundation

Our top three affiliates, by number of gifts are:

• Onslow Caring Communities Foundation
• Clay County Community Foundation and Montgomery County Fund
• Lenoir County Community Foundation

“Our affiliate-led community grantmaking program is the cornerstone of our work,” Tolle Whiteside said. “We’re so honored to see this incredible growth in our campaign to build permanent endowments to make North Carolina stronger.”