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Growing up, many of us were told to follow our dreams (perhaps to a fault, cough cough, Millennials). As the weight of life hit, many people became realists.
But with the arrival of the New Hanover Community Endowment, hope might not be a naive posture after all.
The endowment is pining for big-picture plans from the community. It’s moving the goalpost for lofty projects closer—which may have previously been seen as pie-in-the-sky wastes of time—and is transforming the region’s expectations for what’s possible.
Funded by the sale of the then-public New Hanover Regional Medical Center in 2021, the private endowment is in charge of what’s grown to more than $1.6 billion. Within three years, the Internal Revenue Service will require the endowment to shed 5 percent of its balance annually for charitable purposes.
That’ll mean roughly $100 million will be dispensed within the state’s smallest county by land size each year. That’s a massive amount of capital for an eager nonprofit community that for now, lacks the capacity to effectively absorb it all.
Last week, the endowment’s new CEO Dan Winslow unveiled what he’s calling the grants rainbow, with micro-community grants at the bottom and social impact investing at the top. Another tier, project-based grants, will fulfill one-time events or proposals.
These projects will be ambitious, net the biggest grants, and tackle major social issues.
Recently, community organizers have thrown spaghetti on the wall and garnered press to present their big ideas—and can you blame them? They hope to secure public support, seen as vital to winning over the endowment board’s blessing.
A group unveiled ambitious plans last week for a sprawling athletic complex on land it doesn’t own called Optimism Oasis in Wilmington’s Northside. It has no funding and organizers have asked the endowment to finance a feasibility study.
In another nascent project a bit further along, former endowment CEO William Buster last month pitched an effort to build an 1898 Museum on donated land. That project will also seek endowment funds.
So far, the endowment has financed a handful of project-based proposals, including former District Attorney Ben David’s $3.4 million Community Justice Center and the Northside Food Co-op’s $6.8 million grocery store concept.
Both represent risks the endowment was willing to gamble on. While outside funders may later step in to help, the endowment is footing the bulk of the bills to get them started.
Co-op volunteers have been grinding for years to try and get a grocery store into downtown’s food desert. Their persistence, existing community support, and established network played a big role in how they landed the endowment’s game-changing blessing. As for David, decades in leadership and the right connections streamlined his path to hand-crafting his post-political dream job.
Some skeptics think it’s not worth putting together a plan if you aren’t uber-connected or privileged. But Winslow says the endowment offers a level playing field for all grant applicants.
Nonprofit leaders have said the endowment’s arrival is already changing the county’s philanthropic funding environment. Public and private donors seem ready to tighten their wallets and let the endowment lead the way. Meanwhile, the endowment hopes to collaborate with multiple donors to take on major initiatives. It’s an evolving dynamic.
Winslow says the endowment’s preference is to invest in the final stages of a capital project rather than coming in early with speculative funds and doing so with other financing partners.
He says it’s too soon to know whether the community is throwing out more big-picture ideas now that the endowment is here, and noted many of the current proposals have been cooking for a while.
“We certainly hope that people will continue to share more ideas that benefit the community and align with our pillars,” he said.
The endowment is overhauling its website and improving its rolling grant application process to fit its recently designated categories, and Winslow said he hopes people with visions for big projects will consider how they fit into the endowment’s four funding pillars: community development, public safety, education, and social and health equity.
“Our best advice is to lead with what success looks like: What problem do you propose to solve within one or more of our four pillars? Why is the problem important? How will this project solve or help solve it? How do we measure the metrics of success?” he said.
In the months and years ahead, it won’t be surprising to see more big ideas bubble up. After all, now the half-court attempts may actually be worth the shot.
– Johanna F. Still
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By the time Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene resigned in January 2023, it was clear that state investigators were chasing leads far beyond a recorded phone call in which he called his deputies “snakes” and “Black bastards.”
District Attorney Jon David was prepared to argue in court that Greene should be stripped of his position due to “repeated acts of willful misconduct or maladministration while in office,” including intimidation, false arrests, and negligent supervision of the county jail. Greene had already resigned once, facing the same array of allegations documented in a 900-page State Bureau of Investigation report, but he had been reelected nonetheless.
Greene’s critics pinned their hopes for accountability on federal prosecutors who subpoenaed dozens of people to testify before a grand jury as part of their own probe into Greene’s tenure as sheriff. Now documents recently obtained by The Assembly and the Border Belt Independent shed light on the shape of the federal probe, which lists 51 businesses and individuals as “relevant parties.”
At the same time, some people are growing concerned the case might not survive into the next presidential election, Carli Brosseau and Sarah Nagem report.
What We’ve Learned About the Federal Probe in Columbus County
Federal investigators have demanded that the sheriff’s office turn over information about finances and use of force. But the lack of indictments so far has left some wondering if the case is dead.
It’s a case that one expert on public corruption investigations described as “a real octopus.”
Around the Region
Man Down: UNCW researchers studied a 900-pound manatee found in the Cape Fear River and determined it died from a boat strike, WHQR reports.
Gettin’ Social: A group of business owners in the Brooklyn Arts District are hoping to establish a social district where people can walk about with open containers, Port City Daily reports.
The Next Four: Two of the area’s top employers said the incoming federal administration could be good for business, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal reports.
Around the State
Where the Wild Things Are
Men’s Night Out, a party oasis built by hand on the Tar River, has bonded a generation of men. Can it survive in the 21st century?
The Lonesome Death of Marvin ‘Popcorn’ Sutton
Fifteen years after the death of a tradition-bearer, an unlikely folk hero emerges in the Carolina mountains.
Why This Western N.C. Republican Voted Against the Helene Relief Bill
State Rep. Mark Pless says the legislation, which also strips power from Democrats, doesn’t do much for his area.
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