In September 2009, Campbell Law School moved from the main Campbell campus in Buies Creek, North Carolina, into a newly renovated, state-of-the-art facility in downtown Raleigh. The tab: $15 million.
A $1.2 million grant from the Pope Foundation helped to defray the cost. This press release from Campbell University explains the details:
“We are grateful to the leaders of the John W. Pope Foundation for their meaningful contribution to Campbell Law School,” said Dean Melissa Essary. “Their investment in Campbell Law’s new Raleigh home is extraordinary. At $1.2 million, it is not only the largest gift received thus far toward our building campaign, it is the largest gift in the history of the Law School.”
The Pope Foundation is a long-time supporter of Campbell University. Most recently the Foundation provided $4.5 million toward the construction of the John W. Pope, Jr. Convocation Center on the University’s main campus in Buies Creek. The Convocation Center bequest was made in memory of the late John W. Pope, Jr., who graduated from Campbell in 1975.
“It is a privilege for my family and the Pope Foundation to support the great work of Campbell Law School in memory of my father,” stated J. Arthur Pope, president of the John W. Pope Foundation.
Check out how the Pope Foundation is advancing education in North Carolina by clicking here.
During the last three years, the John William Pope Foundation has contributed $140,000 to Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, a nonprofit that “supports the development of safe, stable, nurturing relationships for children in their families and communities to prevent child abuse and neglect.”
PACNC recently issued a press release (PDF download) announcing the latest grant from the Pope Foundation:
Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina (PCANC) today announced it is the recipient of a $20,000 grant from the John William Pope Foundation. With the Foundation’s support, PCANC is helping communities across North Carolina build safe, stable, nurturing environments for all children. The grant supports PCANC’s work in three areas: providing infrastructure to local communities implementing evidence- based family strengthening programs; increasing awareness of effective prevention programs and strategies; and providing training and professional education opportunities for professionals working with children and families.
“Healthy families are one of the key foundations of our society,” said Art Pope, President and Chairman of the Pope Foundation. “Giving parents the tools they need to become a more nurturing presence in the lives of their children benefits us all by creating more stable, loving families. PCANC is doing this important work in North Carolina, and we are privileged to play a small role in it.”
This marks the third year PCANC has received funding from the Pope Foundation to sustain its work.
To learn more about the Pope Foundation’s support of humanitarian charities, click here.
The John William Pope Foundation marked its 25th anniversary in December 2011. Even a quarter-century after the Foundation’s creation, the Pope family’s extraordinary generosity — nearly $100 million in philanthropic donations — is matched in significance only by the number of lives touched.
John William Pope’s unusually quiet, unassuming philanthropy was designed to recognize and support whole people — helping to meet their physical needs, provide educational opportunities, enrich their creativity through the arts, and promote public policy that protects their ability to be free and prosperous in the future.
In continuing the legacy of John William Pope, the Foundation’s 25th anniversary dinner was a fundraiser for StepUp Ministry, a nonprofit that empowers low-income individuals to break the poverty cycle. All proceeds from ticket sales for the dinner went to StepUp — nearly $300,000 total. John Stossel, a host and commentator on the Fox Business Network, keynoted the dinner.
To learn more about the Pope Foundation, click here.
The John William Pope Foundation marked its 20th year anniversary in 2006. Triangle Business Journal wrote this story on the Foundation’s 20-year milestone, emphasizing the increased funds devoted to humanitarian and public policy causes:
Formed in 1986 and funded mainly with donations from the Pope family and Variety Wholesalers, the discount retailer Pope’s grandfather founded in the 1930s, the foundation helped launch and has been the biggest supporter of the John Locke Foundation, an influential conservative policy, research and advocacy group formed in 1990.
The Pope Foundation also has been a steady supporter of other state and national policy groups, higher education, and a broad range of local charitable and religious groups.
The Pope family and Variety Wholesalers donated $3.8 million to the foundation in the fiscal year ended last June 30.
With assets worth nearly $53.6 million in fair market value last June 30, according to the Form 990 it filed with the IRS, the foundation in fiscal 2005 made grants totaling just over $7.4 million.
That included nearly $3.2 million for policy work in North Carolina, nearly $1.1 million for national policy work, nearly $1.8 million for university and student groups, mainly in North Carolina, and over $1.3 million for local educational, charitable, humanitarian, cultural and religious groups.
To learn more about the Pope Foundation’s four areas of philanthropic giving — public policy, education, humanitarian, and the arts — click here.
The John William Pope Foundation is committed to preserving North Carolina’s higher education legacy. This article inPhilanthropy Journal underscores that commitment:
The John William Pope Foundation in Raleigh has given $3 million to improve facilities that provide academic support to student athletes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The gift will fund a new 29,000-square-foot home for the John W. Pope Student-Athlete Academic Support Center that will be part of a renovation of Kenan Stadium.
The original center, which opened in 1986 and also was funded by the Pope Foundation, was less than one-third the size of the new center and was located in the stadium’s previous field house.
The new center will serve nearly 800 student athletes in 28 sports at the university and will include classrooms for teaching and tutoring; advanced computer technology; a writing lab; and reading rooms and office space.
“We’re committed to giving our student athletes the support they need to succeed in the classroom as well as in their sport,” UNC Chancellor Holden Thorpe, says in a statement. “This new center will epitomize that commitment.”
