The Duke Endowment will give up to $5 billion in grants across North and South Carolina over the next 15 years, according to a Wednesday statement from its Board of Trustees.
The new grant commitment was announced on the endowment’s 100-year anniversary and matches the total donations made by the endowment throughout its history. It represents a $1 billion increase from what the institution was already projected to award in the next 15 years.
In line with James B. Duke’s original “vision of using philanthropy to enrich lives and strengthen communities in the Carolinas,” the new grants will be made in support of “child and family well-being, health care, higher education and rural United Methodist churches and communities.”
“One of the lessons we’ve learned in our first 100 years is that success does not occur simply by giving money away; it means nurturing the kind of long-term systemic change that produces generational impact,” said Charles Lucas, chair of the endowment’s Board of Trustees and a descendent of James B. Duke. “Today, we’re accelerating those efforts in pursuit of that ambitious goal.”
The Duke Endowment was established Dec. 11, 1924, with a $40 million gift by tobacco magnate and industrialist James B. Duke. Around 32% of the funds were directed toward the establishment of a new university in North Carolina “that in time [would] rival Yale or Harvard in prestige and universal educational facilities” — Duke University.
Though the Duke Endowment and the University share a birthday and namesake, the institutions remain separate to this day.
The Duke Endowment, currently based in Charlotte and one of the nation’s largest 501(c)(3) private foundations, continues to make gifts to the University in support of its educational pursuits and facility upgrades. Over the past 100 years, the endowment has made nearly $2 billion in donations to the University and its health system.
In honor of both institutions’ centennial year, the endowment most recently awarded $100 million to the University in November 2023, the single largest donation in Duke’s history.
It has not been announced whether any of the upcoming $5 billion in grants will be directed toward the University.
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Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.