Philanthropy News

The Pope Foundation’s new Liberty Leader focuses on Jim Anthony, a businessman in commercial real estate who uses his wealth to help others and advance the values he holds dear: For Jim Anthony, it all began in 1983. An MBA graduate from Duke University, Jim had spent the last four years working as a brokerage professional in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles when he decided to move his family back to North Carolina. He took a job with a local commercial real estate firm, Carolantic Realty, and that’s when he “woke up” to the importance of personal philanthropy. “Up until then, I was politically disconnected,” Jim said. “In my Christian faith, I was nominal. Then Steve Stroud, my boss, showed me the importance of investing in our community, both through political involvement and personal giving.” That, plus some financial wake-up calls in the last real estate collapse in the late 1980s, set Jim on a three-decade course of philanthropic commitment, consisting of political engagement with candidates, public policy organizations, as well as faith groups that share his values. Along the way, Jim founded his own commercial real estate business in Raleigh. Today, he serves as CEO of Colliers International Raleigh/Durham and still uses his success to bless others when and where he can. “My goal is to see the results of my philanthropy while I’m still living,” Jim said. “Generosity is for now — today. I want to see where the money goes and ensure that it’s helping people and supporting good values.” Read more here.

The Pope Foundation’s new Grantee Profile focuses on Asheville School, the South’s preeminent co-ed boarding and day school: To appreciate the good that Western civilization has brought to the world, students must first understand it. And what better way to gain understanding than to read, and study, the classics of Western culture — works ranging from Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad to the Old and New testaments to Dante’s Divine Comedy and Shakespeare’sHamlet. That principle — the conviction that students best learn about history by studying the literature, art, philosophy, and political thought of the time — is the guiding force behind the stellar humanities program at Asheville School. Nestled in the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville School annually serves 275 students representing 25 states and 13 countries. The average class size is 12 students. One-hundred percent of graduates attend four-year colleges. “There isn’t a single boarding school below the Mason-Dixon line that has these basic qualities: Academically rigorous, relatively small at just under 300 students, co-ed, with a particularly strong emphasis on character development,” said Arch Montgomery, Asheville School’s headmaster. “It’s fairly easy to beat a kid up into memorizing a bunch of facts for a test,” he added. “A much more challenging issue is to teach kids in such a way that it influences the way they view life.” Read more Grantee Profiles here.

The Pope Foundation’s new Grantee Profile focuses on Hospice of Wake County, a top-notch “hospice home” and community services building: Similar to most western nations, the United States is expected to see a significant increase in its older adult population in the coming decades. With that fact of life comes a bevy of needed services. One of those is compassionate end-of-life care. In Hospice of Wake County, North Carolina’s capital city of Raleigh is blessed to have a top-notch “hospice home” and community services building. Nestled in the middle of an idyllic sheep farm in west Raleigh, Hospice offers comfort, peace, and hope to individuals and families facing life-ending illnesses. The need is significant. The older adult population in Wake County is expected to double by 2025, outpacing growth in the general population. In recent years, that growing need has led to major growth at Hospice of Wake County, and the John William Pope Foundation has been privileged to play an instrumental role. “Individuals often come to us after having exhausted all of their resources due to their illness or a medical crisis or a difficult family situation,” said John Thoma, Hospice of Wake County’s CEO. “We help to lift their burden, and we’re able to do so partly through gifts from generous foundations, including the Pope Foundation.” Read more Grantee Profiles here.

The Pope Foundation’s new Achiever Spotlight tells the story of Cathy Heath, an anti-forced annexation activist who has worked as a volunteer with Americans for Prosperity N.C. and the Civitas Institute: Raising a flag on a hill — that’s the word picture Cathy Heath uses to describe her decade-long fight to reform North Carolina’s annexation laws. Involuntary, or “forced,” annexation has long been a political hot potato in North Carolina. Cathy’s quest for reform began in 2001 when the Town of Cary threatened to annex her subdivision in northwest Wake County forcibly. The change would have meant higher taxes for Cathy and her neighbors. They didn’t want town services or the tax bill accompanying them. Cathy began researching the annexation issue and found that it was a significant problem in North Carolina and across the country. She became co-director of the Stop N.C. Annexation coalition, a grassroots effort to end forced annexation. “There were many communities across North Carolina upset about this issue,” she said. “They needed to start talking to one another. I saw there were enough people interested in this issue to make a difference.” Read more Achiever Spotlights here.

The Pope Foundation’s new Grantee Profile focuses on the UNC-Duke Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program, a minor at UNC-Chapel Hill and certificate at Duke University that helps students broaden their thinking : The intersection of politics, economics, and morality has never been more important than it is today. Yet many times, these three subject areas are treated as distinct, unrelated categories. The goal of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University is to rejoin the three disciplines — and show how much they impact our daily lives. In the past, philosophy was closely related to economics, because thinkers’ view of economics was borne out of their moral convictions. But today, the disciplines increasingly diverge. That is where the UNC-Chapel Hill PPE program steps up. “Our distinctive feature is bringing together these three academic disciplines in a comprehensive and cohesive way, with a particular emphasis on the moral significance of each,” said Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, Director of the PPE program at UNC-Chapel Hill. As the only joint UNC-Duke program at the undergraduate level, PPE has distinguished itself as a valuable addition to the repertoire of learning at both schools. Read more Grantee Profiles here.