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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, THURSDAY, DEC. 11, 2003
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANTS AND DONATIONS TOTALING $ 286,798
WILMINGTON, NC—The Community Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina today (Dec. 11, 2003) presented checks at their Annual Meeting to 18 agencies to fund projects in the greater Wilmington area totaling $45,600. The Community Foundation, as a Designated County Partner for the North Carolina Arts Council, distributed $34,100 in Grassroots Arts Program Grants, including $15,000 contributed by the City of Wilmington in support of the cultural arts. The Community Foundation Board of Directors, having designated underserved local scholarship areas as the focus area for 2003-2004, distributed $11,500 to regional institutions of higher education.
The Community Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina (formerly Cape Fear Community Foundation) was founded in 1988 to provide a charitable giving resource for area donors and to promote philanthropy in the region (New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick, Bladen, and Columbus Counties). In the mission of connection people who care with causes that matter, the Community Foundation works to encourage, nurture, and support nonprofit organizations through training, consultation, and granting opportunites. The Community Foundation has distributed $5,001,730 since 1988.
Those funded and their projects are as follows:
Grassroots Arts Grants -- $34,100 Total (Funds include $22,600 from the NC Arts Council and $15,000 from the City of Wilmington)
Black Arts Alliance - $3,000 - Third Annual Cine Noir, a Festival of Black Film with a juried competition and screening of independent films by African-American film makers March 4-7, 2004.
Cameron Art Museum - $3,000 - Exhibition, Fascination with Flight.
Cape Fear Jazz Appreciation Society - $2,600 - Provide complimentary tickets for local music students, DREAMS members, Black Alliance members, and senior citizens to a concert featuring jazz legend, Cedar Walton.
Chamber Music Society of Wilmington - $3,000 - "The American Voice" featuring Greg McCallum and Barbara McKenzie, The Daedalus Quartet, The Carolina Piano Trio, Mallarme Chamber Players, Jane Bryden, soprano, and composer Rudy Davenport
Cucalorus Film Foundation - $2,000 - Student screenings during the five-day Cucalorus Film Festival in March, 2004.
DREAMS of Wilmington - $3,000 Master the Arts - 16-week workshops: video film making, creative writing, landscape oil-painting, songwriting/CD production, and puppet theatre.
Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts - $3,000 - Richie Havens concert, February 26, 2004.
UNC-Wilmington - $3,000 - Blind Boys of Alabama concert.
WHQR Publc Radio - $1,500 Production of radio series (on air segments and live concerts) spotlighting the work of three local musical groups.
Willis Richardson Players - $2,750 Production of "Jubilee Joy" and "A Star Ain't Nothing but a Hole in Heaven" to involve the youth of our community.
The Wilmington Ballet Company - $2,500 - Series of short ballets to enhance outreach initiatives throughout the community.
Wilmington Children's Museum - $2,000 - "NC Arts Series" program which provides opportunities for children to interact with professional folk artists while creating a self-motivated masterpiece.
Wilmington Symphony Orchestra - $2,750 - 2003-2004 Youth Orchestra program.
The 2003-2004 Grassroots Arts Program Grant Distribution Committee: Shirley Hart-Berry, Don Fishero, Ruth Haas, Wendy Larimer, Jack Le Sueur, and Jasper Reed.
Education Projects – Total $11,500 (Funds are from the Alper Family Fund, Codington Memorial Fund, Lucille Murchison Marvin Fund, and the Community Foundation Fund)
UNCWilmington - Watson School of Education for students returning to school to achieve their NC teaching certificate - $2,300
The following schools are receiving grants to fill in the gap for their underserved certificate program scholarship areas.
Cape Fear Community College - $3,500
Brunswick Community College - $2,600
Southeastern Community College - $2,100
Bladen Community College - $1,000
The 2003-2004 Community Foundation Grants Distribution Committee is chaired by Shirley Hart-Berry. Committee members include John Codington, Jr., Joyce Grant, Arlene Lawson, Herb McDuffie, William Smith, Neill Currie, and Jasper Reed.
Donor Advised Fund Distribution 2002-2003: $748,910
Donor Advised Fund Distribution First Quarter 2003-2004 (October 1 - December 31, 2003): $241,198
In other business at the Community Foundation Board of Directors Annual Meeting, the following officers were elected:
Shirley Hart Berry, President
Frank B. Gibson, Jr., Vice President
William E. Perdew, Treasurer
John B. Codington, Jr., Secretary
William O. McMillan, Immediate Past President
Carolyn H. Simmons, Member At Large
Elected to a second three-year term - Class of 2006
Stephen C. Coggins
Herbert J. McDuffie
William A. Raney, Jr.
R. Bertram Williams, III
Class of 2004
Neill A. Currie
Hannah Dawson Gage
John Moore
Jane C. Sullivan
Todd J. Toconis
Class of 2005
Jasper P. Reed
Laurie Taylor
TOP PRESS
RELEASE / Grant Recipients
Contact:
Beth Becka, Associate Executive Dierector
798-5292
December 12, 2002
The Community
Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina, on behalf of the North
Carolina Arts Council, recently approved and distributed grants
to fund projects in New Hanover County. The mission of the North
Carolina Arts Council, which celebrates those who create and enjoy
art in all 100 counties, is to enrich the cultural life of the state.
New Hanover County was the recipient of $21,246, which was distributed
to 13 agencies. These funds were administered by Ruth Haas, Director
of the Cape Fear Museum. Haas and Beth Becka, Associate Executive
Director of the Community Foundation, forged a partnership as a
mutually beneficial collaboration for distribution of the funds.
Grant requests
were reviewed by a panel of Ruth Haas; Beth Becka and Shirley Hart
Berry, representing the Community Foundation; Don Fishero and Ren
Brown, representing the community. 18 organizations submitted applications
requesting $41,482. 13 grants were awarded totaling $21, 246.
Recipient organizations:
Azalea
Coast Chorus, Sweet Adelines International
$500 to purchase music with performance fees and music learning
tapes.
Junior
League of Wilmington, Inc.
$1000 to help pay for artistic staff employed in live theater production
staged for approximately 6000 1st and 2nd grade students in New
Hanover, Brunswick and Pender Counties as well as local private
schools.
Wilmington
Children’s Museum
$2000 to pay for artistic fees, marketing, phone, and art supplies
in support of WCM’s “NC Artist Series”.
Wilmington
Symphony Orchestra
$2000 to fund contacted fees and services, space rental, travel,
marketing and remaining project expenses in support of the Wilmington
Symphony Youth Orchestra program.
Big
Dawg Productions
$1235 for production costs for sets, costumes, and props for presentation
of William Gibson’s “The Miracle Worker” in March
2003. Matinee presentation for students.
Black
Arts Alliance, Inc.
$2225 to help fund expenses of 2003 Cine Noir scheduled for March
6-9, 2003.
Chamber
Music Society of Wilmington
$2225 to help fund expenses of “Meet the Composer,” a NC Composer Project to introduce nationally recognized composers
to students in all grades.
DREAMS
of Wilmington, Inc.
$2225 to help fund expenses for “Arts To Go,” a Public
Housing Initiative which provides a high quality arts experience
at after school recreation center programs.
Friends
of Public Radio
$1071 to help fund the production and promotion of live concerts
during 2002-03 featuring guest artists.
New
Hanover Regional Medical Center
$1000 to help fund the Visiting Artists Program, a component of
the Healing Arts Network, to provide arts for patients and their
families at the medical center.
Stageworks
Youth Theater Company
$1765 to offset a portion of production expenses and improve production
quality for 3 productions planned for 2002-03.
Thalian
Hall Center for the Performing Arts
$2000 to offset costs for two artist performances at Thalian Hall – The Shanghai Ballet on October 27, 2002, and Dianne Reeves
on April 12, 2003.
Willis
Richardson Players
$2000 to help fund the technical/production staff and space rental
for two productions.
TOP
Nonprofits
vie for $20,000 in arts grants
By
Amanda Greene
Staff writer, Wilmington Morning Star
October 11, 2002
The Community
Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina is accepting grant proposals
from nonprofits in Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, Bladen and Columbus
counties for about $20,000 in grants, available for arts education
programs. The deadline for submissions is today.
Nonprofits
can apply for the grants by downloading an application from the
foundation's Web site at www.communityfoundationsenc.org. Associate
Executive Director Beth Becka said the foundation already had gotten
about 50 applications for the grants. She manages the office along
with executive director Betsey Young.
"Last
year, we split our focus between arts education and the Latino community,
but this year, we saw such a need in the arts community, we decided
to focus totally on arts education," Ms. Becka said.
Last year's
grants went to 12 local organizations including the Black Arts Alliance
Inc., which received $2,000 to fund A Festival of Black Film in
February. Catholic Social Ministries got $2,400 to continue its
Work Force Development and Life Skills Training programs helping
the Hispanic community. And the Cameron Art Museum received $2,000
for its ongoing African American Dance Ensemble Residency Project.
Recipients
of discretionary funds from the foundation usually only receive
those grants one time because the group has limited resources, Ms.
Young said.
The foundation,
formerly known as the Cape Fear Community Foundation, is itself,
nonprofit. It was established in 1987 but was volunteer-run until
three years ago. Its mission is to encourage charitable giving,
hoping to become the contact for area investors looking for a charitable
organization to sponsor, Ms. Becka said.
Quarterly,
donors send letters telling the foundation what nonprofits they
want their money to go toward out of about 350 organizations both
local and worldwide. Some recent recipients of donor-advised funds
have been the Cape Fear Area United Way, Good Shepherd Ministries,
Domestic Violence Shelter and Services, Inc. and the University
of North Carolina at Wilmington.
"We hook
donors up with nonprofits they want to support, and our assets grow
when people use us to distribute their funds," Ms. Becka said.
The organization's current assets are about $2 million. Since they
opened, the foundation has given about $7 million to area charitable
organizations.
To help beyond
the current grants, the Community Foundation has proposed building
a Cultural Arts Endowment Fund. The endowment needs a gift of $2
million to get started. The fund would then grow, and each year,
the interest from that fund would feed back into the cultural community.
The foundation is asking for four "angels" to come forth
to donate $250,000 or more each to start the fund. The Community
Foundation will have its annual meeting Nov. 19 at The Louise Wells
Cameron Art Museum, where it hopes to announce the donors who gave
the seed money for the new arts endowment.
"Mama,
always said, 'Save for a rainy day,'" has become the philosophy
behind the foundation's second goal, which is to help nonprofits
become self-sustaining, Ms. Becka said.
"A community
is basically as healthy as its philanthropy," she added. "Giving
helps a community grow and prosper from the government to the arts."
The Community
Foundation told a crowd of about 30 representatives of different
cultural organizations at a meeting last month that it would help
them establish their own endowment grants.
"Having
your own endowment says to other donors that you're going to be
here in the long run and are serious about what they're doing," she said. The foundation would manage the funds for them and send
out yearly reports of how much interest the endowment had earned.
The Cape Fear Donor's Forum, of which the foundation is a member,
will provide training workshops for nonprofits in grant writing.
It's also working
to establish a high school and college committee to look for funding
for youth organizations to help "to create a philanthropic
understanding in young people, who are the leaders of tomorrow."
"We want
to be the hub of philanthropy for this area," Ms. Becka said.
"In the event of a budget year where there are more pressing
needs, it would allow the arts here to still get funding."
For information
call 251-3911.
Amanda
Greene: 343-2365 or amanda.greene@wilmingtonstar.com
TOP
COMMON
SENSE / Foundation's
new name, endowment expand role
By
Josiah Cantwell
Staff columnist, Wilmington Morning Star
August 27, 2002
The
Cape Fear Community Foundation has changed its name. It's pulling
together grant makers and planning training sessions for groups
who need funding. And it is forming a cultural arts endowment fund.
That's
a lot, so we'll go over it again. It's a good organization and deserves
some attention.
The new name is the Community Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina,
and we can call it the Community Foundation for short.
The
organization was getting confused with foundations associated with
Cape Fear Memorial Hospital and Cape Fear Community College, said
Beth Becka, the Community Foundation's associate executive director.
She
and Executive Director Betsey Young gave me an update last week
in the foundation's office at the Cotton Exchange.
"It
more accurately describes what we are," Ms. Becka said of the
new name. The foundation serves New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick,
Columbus and Bladen counties.
Established in 1987, it accepts gifts and manages a variety of foundations
and funds. It sets up philanthropic funds for people who wish to
receive tax advantages from sizable donations, and steers other
donations into existing funds.
The
foundation can make it easy for middle-class people to take advantage
of tax breaks for charitable giving.
People
can direct where they want their donations to go or they can let
the foundation decide where the greatest need lies.
Each
year, the foundation targets a certain field for attention. Last
year there were two, arts education and education in the Latino
community. The foundation ended up distributing $20,000 in grants
to nonprofit agencies in those areas.
This
year it is working on establishing at least a $2 million endowment
fund that would yield annual benefits to the local arts community.
An
endowment is a big batch of money that earns interest or annual
profits. Year after year, you leave the original batch alone so
it keeps on earning. And each year you can draw off some of the
profits and give it to people who will put it to good use.
With
the demise of the Arts Council and the local governments' budgetary
woes, foundation directors thought this would be a good time to
create the endowment.
The
foundation is also working with the Cape Fear Museum to distribute
state grants to local arts groups. The Arts Council formerly doled
those out. Recipients will be announced next month.
Ruth Haas, director of the Cape Fear Museum, said she believes they
will have around $21,000 to give out after the state budget is passed.
On
another front, the Community Foundation is working with SpinNC.org
and other donor agencies to create a "grant makers forum."
Groups already involved include the Cape Fear Memorial Foundation,
Landfall Foundation, UNCW's Center for Social Work Research and
Practice, the Cape Fear Area United Way, the Greater Wilmington
Chamber of Commerce and Self-Help Credit Union. City and county
representatives are also involved.
Ms.
Becka hopes other organizations will get in touch with the Community
Foundation to participate.
The aim is to make it easier for nonprofits to apply for grants.
One
way is for all the grant makers to offer nonprofits basically the
same application form.
Another is to provide training for nonprofits on how to seek funds,
and how to report back how the funds were used. Grant makers like
to know their donations were used wisely.
"We find that people who know how to seek grants are the ones
who get the grants," Ms. Becka said. She'd like to see more
worthwhile nonprofits become knowledgeable about how to work the
system.
For
more information about any of this, call the Community Foundation
at 251-3911.
TOP
COMMON
SENSE / Local center helps with donations
By Josiah Cantwell
Staff columnist, Wilmington Morning Star
August 2, 2001
Calling
it “the best-kept secret in Wilmington,” Beth Becka
has taken a position with the Cape Fear Community Foundation. Her
job is to get the word out on how the foundation can make it easier
for people to donate to the charities of their choice.
The
foundation has given out more than $3.4 million since Dickson Baldridge
founded it in 1987, said George Taylor, this year’s board
president (and the recent recipient of the Wilmington Civitan Club’s
annual Citizenship Award). Ms. Becka has been a fund-raiser before,
but that’s not really her job now.
“She’s
not asking people for money,” Mr. Taylor said. “She’s
just making sure people know the foundation exists and how it operates,
what it can do for donors.”
What
it can do is make it easier for people to give to charities. While
very wealthy families might establish their own charitable foundations,
middle-class people and the moderately well-off can benefit by having
the CFCF handle the donations they want to make. The foundation
can take cash, stock, property or other investments and turn it
into scheduled payments to designated charities. They’ve even
accepted old cars.
Let’s
say you have some stock that’s gone up, and it would help
your tax situation to sell it and make a donation. Working through
the foundation, you pay no capital gains on the profits you’ve
made, which would not be the case if you sold the stock yourself
and distributed the gifts. You can set it up so the chunk of stock
money is given over a period of years, rather than simply handed
over in one lump sum. That might help a donor meet an annual pledge,
for instance.
The
foundation handles “donor-advised grants,” where donors
give money and tell the foundation where to send it. Last year,
it distributed $584,313 in donor-advised grants. The minimum donation
to create such a fund is $1,000.
It
also handles endowment funds. People put their donation into the
endowment and the interest from the money is given out. The principal
stays in perpetuity. You can say where the money should be directed,
or you can let the foundation folks pick the charities.
A
recent gift of $212,000 by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous
brought the foundation’s endowment assets very close to $2
million. It might be over that mark today if the stock market weren’t
in such a funk, said Betsey Young, the foundation’s executive
director.
The minimum to establish an endowment fund is $5,000. Last year,
$30,800 of the interest from those funds was given out as discretionary
grants to benefit charities in health and education. The rest of
the interest went back into the funds. As the CFCF’s brand-new
director of development, Ms. Becka is working to master the ins
and outs of the foundation’s operations and the laws governing
charitable donations.
She’ll
be making calls, giving talks and generally trying to get the word
out to the community. And Ms. Becka is someone who can make herself
heard. In fact, you might be familiar with her voice. She was development
director at WHQR public radio from 1992 to 1997 and frequently went
on the air to drum up support.
The
foundation is seeking organizations interested in grants. This year’s
areas of interest are arts education, and education and training
in the Latino community. Grants may run from $200 to $4,000. The
application deadline is Oct. 12. Cape Fear Community Foundation:
251-3911.
TOP
MAYOR HOSTS MEETING
ON CITY’S ART SUPPORT
By Keith T. Barber
Staff Writer, Wilmington Morning Star
June 19, 2002
It
was standing room only inside a City Hall conference room Tuesday
as more than 60 people attended the first installment of Mayor Harper
Peterson’s Brown Bag Lunch series.
More than 60 Wilmington residents, many of them members of the local
arts community, gathered to share with the mayor and city officials
their ideas on the city’s role in enhancing the arts in Wilmington.
The discussion, moderated by Mr. Peterson, centered on the challenges
facing Wilmington since the recent demise of the Arts Council of
the Lower Cape Fear and the decline in feature film production in
the region.
A number of themes wove their way through the discussion, including
corporate and municipal support for the arts, increased cooperation
among arts groups and the need for a strategy to market Wilmington
as a cultural arts destination.
"We are an arts and cultural dynamo," Mr. Peterson said.
"People come here and spend millions and millions of dollars
because we’re unique."
Susan Dankel, general manager of public radio station WHQR-FM, said
individuals in the community have taken responsibility for support
of the arts, but in these tough economic times, the city should
step up to the plate and fill the financial void.
Beth Becka, director of development for the Community Foundation
of Southeastern North Carolina, said the city should invest in "social
capital."
Mr. Peterson said cooperation among the city, local arts organizations
and the business community is crucial to promoting opportunities
for area artists.
"We need to coordinate, network and create an identity,"
he said.
Judith Grizzell, president of the Cape Fear Convention and Visitors
Bureau, said the recent loss of the Arts Council has made it necessary
to create a comprehensive database to inform the public of upcoming
cultural events.
"We have found it very difficult to go to a clearinghouse to
find out what’s going on," Ms. Grizzell said.
Griffin Weld, a former president of the Arts Council, said building
interest in cultural events is crucial to maintaining the city’s
artistic heritage.
"We have great art in this |city," Mr. Weld said.
"What we lack is an audience."
Actress and Wilmington resident Linda Lavin proposed a city-appointed
task force of leaders in the arts community to address the challenges
and issues raised at Tuesday’s meeting.
Mr. Peterson passed out information from Charleston’s office
of cultural affairs, saying the city could serve as a compass for
Wilmington in promoting and fostering development of the arts. Charleston
has a city department that helps plan cultural events.
"They’re a model for the country but we’re not
doing things bad," Mr. Peterson said. "We’re doing
a lot of things right but we can do better."
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