More than 150 people gathered Wednesday evening as officials with the New Hanover Community Endowment provided updates on the endowment's grants and current initiatives.
 
The endowment's strategic plan outlines the measurable objectives, goals and desired impacts the organization envisions for New Hanover County in four pillars: education, social and health equity, community safety and community development, according to Amber Rogerson, the Endowment's director of communications.
 
Since its inception, the endowment has committed $125 million in grant funding in New Hanover County, the endowment’s board chair, Shannon Winslow, said during Wednesday's public meeting. Those funds were distributed through 195 grants. The endowment was created from the sale of county-owned New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health in 2021.
 
Winslow also added that endowment officials had concluded that it was necessary to be more focused and strategic in grant-making. This realization prompted Winslow to appoint an ad-hoc strategy committee earlier in the year.
 
That committee is being led by board vice chair Chris Boney, and its members include endowment president and CEO Dan Winslow, board chair Shannon Winslow (who is not related to Dan Winslow) and board members Jack Barto, Cedric Dickerson and Bill Blair. According to Shannon Winslow, the committee’s work has been centered on prioritizing and refining the endowment’s priorities, and it has worked to “guide strategic and impactful grant-making aimed at truly transforming” the community.
 
Dan Winslow emphasized that the endowment has gone to greater lengths to make information more readily available to the public. He said the endowment’s website includes a disclosures page where all grants, financials and governance documents are posted. In addition, he mentioned that the website now includes a community events calendar, where endowment events and events by its grantee partners are posted daily.
 
Dan Winslow also introduced the board’s new plan, called the Endowment Roadmap. The plan is designed to improve the quality of life of all residents in New Hanover County, starting with pre-birth and infancy. He listed the Endowment Roadmap’s plans for each of the following age stages: pre-birth and infancy, birth to age five, six to 15, ages 16 to 24 and 24 and older.
 
As for the four pillars, more than $27 million went out in grants toward the community development focus area in 2024. Last year, the endowment also awarded more than $1.4 million in grants for community safety, more than $9.1 million in grants for the education pillar and grants in the social and health equity pillar exceeded $15 million, bringing the 2024 grant total to more than $53 million. According to the vice president of programs and grants, Sophie Dagenais, the endowment’s budget for this year is nearly $55 million.
 
Toward the end of the event, audience members asked a variety of questions, including whether the endowment was working with artists to amplify spaces for public art. Those in attendance also asked what the endowment does to address mental health issues, where it stands when it comes to helping refugees in the community and whether the endowment has given any thought to diversity in the selection of board members.