Categories

Category: Public Service

Dec
8
2012

Art Pope Serves on McCrory Transition Team

Categories: Public Service
Art Pope, CEO of Variety Wholesalers Inc. and President and Chairman of the John William Pope Foundation, will serve as a co-chair on Governor-Elect Pat McCrory’s gubernatorial transition team. The Associated Press has the details: The top transition leaders are senior chairman of transition operations John Lassiter, a Charlotte businessman, former city council member and close McCrory ally, and transition director Thomas Stith, who works at a private enterprise center at UNC-Chapel Hill. Stith is a former Durham city council member. Other operations co-chairmen are former Rep. Ed McMahan, a Charlotte architect; Raleigh real estate executive Mike Smith and retail company executive Art Pope. McCrory defended the involvement of Pope, who’s been a lightning rod for Democrats and liberal groups because his family’s companies have given large amounts of money to conservative political groups and his family’s foundation often gives to conservative causes. Pope, a former state House member from Raleigh, is “extremely knowledgeable about the operation of state government. And by the way, he has a great relationship with Gov. (Beverly) Perdue also,” McCrory said as Pope and more than a dozen other transition members stood behind him at the news conference. For a complete list of transition team members, click here.
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Sep
20
2012

Art Pope Appointed to UNC-System Advisory Committee

Categories: Public Service
Raleigh businessman and philanthropist Art Pope has been appointed to serve on a UNC-system advisory committee to “provide vital input in the development of the next five-year strategic plan for the 17-campus University,” according to a news release. The blue-ribbon group includes a variety of leaders in the business, educational, and political sectors from across the state. Read more in this news release from the university system: President Ross and the Board of Governors are working collaboratively to define the University’s strategic directions for 2013-18.  These core goals are pivotal in setting current and future priorities, resource planning and allocation, program planning, review and refinement of academic missions, and strategic planning by UNC constituent institutions and affiliated entities.  They also must reflect the University’s deep commitment to help North Carolina respond to changing state needs and economic challenges. In support of that effort, this special Advisory Committee chaired by President Ross will help assess North Carolina’s current and future workforce needs and recommend degree attainment goals and strategies that are responsive to those needs and changing demographics.  The group may also consider recommendations related to higher academic standards and competencies required for a globally competitive workforce.  The Advisory Committee will evaluate relevant data and available information in order to complete its work and make a consensus recommendation to President Ross in January 2013.
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Sep
14
2012

Art Pope Serves on Golden LEAF Board of Directors

Categories: Public Service
In June 2011, N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger appointed Art Pope to the Board of Directors for Golden LEAF (Long-term Economic Advancement Foundation). The Foundation, headquartered in Rocky Mount, makes annual grants to spur economic development in tobacco-dependent areas of North Carolina. For the 2011-2012 budget year, the Foundation will make $48.2 million in community-assistance, education, and health-care grants. Art has brought a wealth of business and philanthropic experience to the Golden LEAF Board. He is the current CEO and Chairman of the Board for Variety Wholesalers Inc. and Chairman of the John William Pope Foundation, a private philanthropy that has given away over $100 million in the past 25 years. Art’s past experience in the North Carolina General Assembly has given him added insight into the decisions faced by Golden LEAF. Art serves on the Board with 14 other North Carolinians who represent a variety of industries and business sectors.
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Feb
7
2012

Let’s not Demonize Art Pope

Immediately, my eye was drawn to the first name on the list of charities and universities the Pope Foundation blessed with $1.2 million in grants last year. The Alliance Medical Ministry? Art Pope, Republican archenemy of some Wake County school board Democrats, gave $10,000 to the charity where Dr. Anne McLaurin, former school board Democrat, provides medical care to the uninsured? What nefarious motive must he have? We need our selfish, rich, conservative caricatures to eschew humanitarian efforts so we can say they want to hang on to their haddock. Every conservative, we know, believes that giving a man a fish instead of teaching him to fish just keeps the man standing there with his hand out.  ”If you are cold, starving, sick, it’s hard to learn a trade or profession so you can provide for your family. You do need direct humanitarian help,” Pope said recently in a lengthy interview. “You can call it treating the symptoms when you just provide food and shelter when you want to treat the disease, which is poverty. But sometimes you do treat the symptoms first or the person may die.” Humanitarian aid actually is the fourth prong of the Pope Foundation’s charitable efforts – the other three being public policy, education and the arts. Given the amount of unfavorable press Pope has received this year, one might expect any talk of prongs to refer to a pitchfork. An October article in The New Yorker, headlined “State for Sale,” chronicled the role three Pope Foundation-backed public policy groups played in the Republican takeover of the General Assembly in 2010. Pope has been characterized as having a “plantation mentality” because Variety Wholesalers, his family’s retail business, employs some part-time workers at minimum wage. He also has been accused of taking advantage of blacks because many of his stores are in low-income neighborhoods. The N.C. Association of Educators even called for a boycott of the stores, which include Rose’s and Maxway. It’s painfully hard to understand why detractors demonize a man for providing affordable goods in low-income areas and why they want to jeopardize the jobs of the 7,000 people he employs with a boycott. “When we do make money from the company, most of it we’re reinvesting in the company and still creating more jobs,” Pope said. “Every day we sell clothing for an affordable price, every day we make a payroll, we’re enriching lives.” In addition to the Alliance Medical Ministry grant, the Pope Foundation gave $5,000 to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, $5,000 to Hope Reins of Raleigh, $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity, $10,000 to Hospice of Wake County, $5,000 to the Interfaith Food Shuttle, $25,000 to Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, $5,000 to the Raleigh Rescue Mission, $5,000 to the Salvation Army, $5,000 to the Shepherd’s Table, $25,000 to StepUp Ministry, $10,000 to Urban Ministries, $30,000 to the YMCA – and $5,000 to Safe Haven for Cats. You mean Art Pope doesn’t eat cats for breakfast? “I’m a dog person also,” said Pope, who has a 17-year-old she-cat named Rocky. “I’m an equal opportunity animal lover.” ‘Yeah, it’s working’ In December, the Pope Foundation celebrated its 25th anniversary with a dinner that raised $300,000 for StepUp Ministry. The Raleigh nonprofit helps more than 600 low-wage and homeless people move their lives to stability – job, family and home – each year. “They provide life skills and job skills, teach them to manage budgets, so those worse off in our society, in our county, can get a hand up to provide for themselves and their families,” Pope said. “A lot of those at StepUp have received direct charity through food kitchens; some suffered from child abuse, some from substance abuse, and they need help there as well. We try to accomplish the whole range.” Being able to honor StepUp was one of the highlights of his year, Pope said. “Looking at the clients of StepUp who were at the dinner who spoke to a big audience and then also spoke one on one with us, that was a ‘Yeah, it’s working’ moment,” Pope said, fists in the air. “We can make a difference.” In the longer term, Pope said, he’d like to end poverty so people don’t need charity. “Until we get there, we still need to provide direct humanitarian help,” he said. Addressing the divide Of course, it’s the path to “there” that so divides liberals and conservatives. Pope believes protecting the free-market economy, “subject to the rule of law with the government providing essential services,” creates the conditions “where people can be successful and provide for their families and raise themselves out of poverty, so the next generation will do better.” His support of the John Locke Foundation and other conservative public policy groups “is just as intentional to alleviate poverty as direct charity like the Food Bank and Habitat. One is treating the short-term, immediate needs and symptoms, and the other addresses the underlying causes of poverty and will eliminate poverty for more people in the long term.” Disagree with him. Debate him. But don’t demonize him. People are complex. Always assigning dark motives to the one-dimensional foes we create makes it easier to feel morally superior, but it makes it harder to solve our problems. Pope’s path Art Pope, who became chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers Inc. after his father’s death in 2006, was a reluctant participant in the family business. “When I was an undergrad at Carolina, my father wanted me to get a business degree. I got a political science degree,” Pope said. “When my father wanted me to go get an MBA, I not only got a law degree, but I got it at Duke. My father was a huge Carolina supporter. When I graduated from Duke Law School, my father wanted me to come into the family business, and I went into private practice. I spent several years practicing law, and I thoroughly enjoyed being a practicing attorney. “My father, in 1986 – I had planned to stay in the governor’s office one year because I didn’t plan to be a career state employee, even as counsel to Gov. Martin, so I returned to my old law firm – but my father approached me with a fairly attractive offer. After being on my own for years, I felt comfortable working for the family company for the first time. My project was to start the Pope Foundation that year.” Asked whether he gets great joy from being able to give so much money away through the foundation, Pope said what he gets is satisfaction. “Joy isn’t quite the right word,” Pope said. “You regret that someone is in a position of need. I don’t get joy giving people food. I wish they weren’t hungry to begin with.” Pope also gets satisfaction from climbing mountains – he has conquered Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, and Kilimanjaro – and avoiding caves. “When I read about people who go spelunking in caves, that absolutely horrifies me,” he said. “Put me on the edge of the mountain looking a mile down, but put me in an enclosed space? No, thank you.” FACTS The John William Pope Foundation contributed $1.2 million to local charities and universities last year. The foundation is a private, family foundation, supported by the late John W. Pope, Sr., of Raleigh, his wife, Joyce W. Pope, and their children: Art Pope of Raleigh, Amanda Pope of Citra, Fla., and their late son, John William Pope, Jr. The Pope Foundation receives additional support from the family’s business, Variety Wholesalers, Inc., which owns and operates Roses, Maxway, Super 10 and other discount stores. It has offices and distribution centers in Raleigh and Henderson. December Grantees: Alliance Medical Ministry $10,000 American Red Cross-Triangle Chapter $5,000 Asheville School, The $225,000 Barium Springs Home for Children $10,000 Blessed Sacrament School $10,000 Capitol Commission $10,000 Carolina Ballet $25,000 Disabilities Education Support Center $5,000 Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina $5,000 Full Gospel Tabernacle Incorporated $25,000 Godwin Presbyterian Church $5,000 H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library, Inc. of Vance County $10,000 Habitat for Humanity – Wake County $10,000 Henderson YMCA $5,000 Hope Reins of Raleigh $5,000 Hospice of Wake County Foundation $10,000 Interfaith Food Shuttle $5,000 Lifeline Outreach, Inc. $3,000 North Carolina Opera $10,000 North Carolina Symphony $25,000 NC Theatre $25,000 North Carolina Youth Legislative Assembly Administration $5,000 Neuse Christian Academy $2,500 Occoneechee Council – Boy Scouts of America $50,000 Performance Edge $5,000 Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina $25,000 Raleigh Charter High School $25,000 Raleigh Fine Arts Society $25,000 Raleigh Rescue Mission $5,000 Ravenscroft School $25,000 Rex Healthcare Foundation $5,000 SAFE Haven for Cats $5,000 Salvation Army of Wake County $5,000 Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen, The $5,000 StepUp Ministry $25,000 United Way of Vance County $10,000 Upper Room Christian Academy $10,000 Urban Ministries of Wake County $10,000 Vance County Historical Society $5,000 Virginia Episcopal School $25,000 White Memorial Presbyterian Church $50,000 YMCA $30,000   STAFF WRITER BURGETTA EPLIN WHEELER bwheeler@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4825 Source: News & Observer
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Oct
21
2011

Donors, Not Puppet-Masters

The Philanthropy Daily takes an in-depth look at philanthropic and political giving in North Carolina. “Giving is not the same thing as buying. Donors can’t buy their way into puppet-master status — whether they’re cutting checks to nonprofits or to politicians. Those who claim otherwise tempt donors to become narcissists, and encourage critics to become hysterics.” Read more Source: Philanthropy Daily
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