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Kiwanis Club of Banner Elk Learns Gifts To Avery From Duke Endowment Total $7M

Avery County Grants Slide-1

During the past two decades, The Duke Endowment Fund has provided nearly $7 million in grants to organizations in Avery County, according Duke Endowment President Rhett Mabry, who presented to the Kiwanis Club of Banner Elk on July 12.

Mabry said that Grandfather Home for Children and Crossnore School received 63 grants totaling $3,961,983; Cannon Memorial Hospital received 19 grants for $1,632,916; and rural United Methodist churches banked 13 grants for $388,000.

Since 1924, The Duke Endowment has worked to help people and strengthen communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits.

Located in Charlotte, The Duke Endowment fulfills the visionary genius and innovative legacy of James Buchanan Duke, one of the great industrialists and philanthropists of the 20th century. Mr. Duke established the Endowment in 1924 with $40 million. In 1925, it was expanded with an additional $67 million from his estate. Adjusted for present value, Mr. Duke’s total gifts would amount to almost $1.4 billion today.

Governed by a board of trustees, Endowment staff conduct grantmaking according to guidelines in Mr. Duke’s original Indenture of Trust, a legal document that remains relevant and timely after more than 80 years.

The Endowment has awarded over $3.4 billion in grants since its inception, including nearly $1.6 billion to Duke University. With assets of $3.35 billion, the Endowment is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit private foundations. Today, almost 82 percent of our total spending goes to grantmaking.

Kiwanis meets on Tuesdays over the lunch hour on the campus of Lees-McRae College.