How to help your clients keep their charitable giving in their communities
As North Carolinians, we love our communities. It could be where you’re from or where you live now. Or maybe it’s where you work or play. Each of us have a place that’s special to us, and the North Carolina Community Foundation offers ways to help you support your clients in turning their love for a community into support that continues for generations.
NCCF takes pride in supporting 60 counties in our state through our regional staff and local affiliate foundations whose board members serve as experts on local community needs. As community needs evolve, our staff and affiliate board members stay informed and connected, lending their expertise to donors and supporting their communities through annual grantmaking.
Whether it’s through current giving or estate planning, clients interested in supporting their communities should consider partnering with a local affiliate of the North Carolina Community Foundation. Our affiliates can provide long-term charitable stewardship with local knowledge. NCCF’s affiliate foundations provide philanthropic support in 60 counties across the state. Each is advised by a board of local community members who know their communities and make grants to nonprofits addressing local needs.
There are different ways for donors to make an affiliate part of their charitable plans:
- Make a gift to an affiliate community grantmaking fund today.
- Include an affiliate in an estate plan to provide support in the future.
- Name an affiliate as a successor advisor in your existing charitable fund, allowing the affiliate to advise the fund after the donor’s lifetime.
Or maybe you or your clients are interested in serving on a local affiliate advisory board.
Longtime NCCF fundholder Wayland L. Jenkins Jr. made his local affiliate part of his fund’s succession plan.
Jenkins wanted his philanthropy to continue supporting Bertie and Hertford counties for generations, so he worked with NCCF to create a permanent endowment that would be advised by the Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation.
“It was a dream realized that he did not have to establish his own foundation and worry about the management of that,” said John Tayloe, a longtime friend of Jenkins and a former Bertie-Hertford Community Foundation board member. “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.”
Following Jenkins’ death in 2024, his estate contributed nearly $23 million to the endowment, creating a permanent source of funding for grantmaking in Bertie and Hertford counties.
The Dottie Gray Ambulance Fund shows how that local stewardship can work over time. Jim Gray established the fund with NCCF in 1999 to improve emergency response in southeast Pamlico County. Over the next 25 years, grants have supported defibrillators, EMT services, ambulance operations and emergency response equipment. Since 2017, the fund has been advised by NCCF’s Pamlico County affiliate.
“One of (NCCF’s) main goals is to help rural communities and ensure the money goes where it’s needed. They can help you while keeping the money local,” Gray said.
Jim Deal, a partner at Deal Moseley di Santi Garrett & Martin, LLP, was one of the founding members of NCCF’s Watauga County affiliate and served for many years on their board.
“The local board knows the needs of the community because they live and work there, interacting with charities every day,” he said.
For donors and their professional advisors, NCCF’s affiliate network can provide reassurance that charitable resources will remain dedicated to a community for generations, with NCCF providing long-term stewardship and affiliate board members helping to guide how those resources can make a difference as needs evolve.
If you want to create lasting support for a North Carolina community, or are advising a client who does, contact our team to explore how an NCCF affiliate could fit into those charitable plans.