Living Well & Doing Good in 2023
A New Year’s Message of Gratitude from our CEO
As we open the year 2023 and we invite you to share in our reflection of the past year, we begin with Gratitude, and we ask you to always keep one very significant truth close to mind, Every Gift Matters! True Philanthropy begins with a simple question which is “What Can I Give” and it is then followed with “How can my gift be of value”? At The Community Foundation of NC East, we have these meaningful, transforming and inspiring conversations 365 days a year with our Donors, Partners, Regional, State and National Leaders whom all share our vision of Making Every Gift Count, as we invest our financial resources in the Philanthropic needs and opportunities across the eastern North Carolina region, the great state of North Carolina and across the United States.
Living Well and Doing Good has certainly continued to be our mindset and although we are all living in a world of economic challenges and other uncertainties, I am reminded of the significance of our Foundation’s long standing, deep rooted, and exceptionally strong presence, always a constant lifeline to countless organizations and initiatives, public and private partnerships and an ability to remain change makers through every kind of economic environment and global environment.
I could be more grateful than I am for the tremendous amount impact our Foundation has made and continues to make, throughout our region. 2022 blessed us with a record year of asset growth, with over $30 million in new assets by way of new Estate Plan Endowments and a total of more than $75 million dollars in current assets and testamentary endowments. It has been an honor to welcome many new Donors and Partners into our Foundation family.
Enabling our Donors to fulfill their charitable giving wishes, through the expertise and high level professional services that our leadership offers, is an Incredibly rewarding and humbling honor, one that we greatly appreciate. The generosity of our Donors and their placing trust in the integrity of our organization, enables us to leverage the financial assets of our Foundation to levels that create change and transform lives and the communities we all live in and hold close to our hearts. We have provided more than $2 million dollars in grants to charities and nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities, in the past year.
Without a doubt, one of our most accomplished successes in 2022 was the official launch of our HBOT (Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment) Therapy Program to Benefit our North Carolina Veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD. After nearly 10 years of efforts to launch this program, we were extremely pleased to receive the financial support from our North Carolina General Assembly and the Governor as they voted and approved Senate Bill 442 which allocated $250,000 for our HBOT Therapy, enabling us the opportunity to offer this life saving treatment to NC Veterans who apply. We could not be more appreciative of this support and we will continue to advocate for our NC Veterans to help provide them the restoration of the quality of life they deserve.
While I am a Champion of wanting to always evolve, growing stronger and growing greater, one thing I know for certain after nearly 25 years in the Philanthropy business, Every Gift Matters! The investments of our financial resources, our time, our talents and our tireless commitments to the causes and the communities we serve, are what make us successful. Most positive outcomes are not a result of limited efforts, but rather a direct result of our relentless passion and our desire to see change, leaving everything better than how we found it.
So let us always be mindful of our successes, grateful for the opportunities to be change makers, and never lose our desire to continue moving our life changing work forward, because the top of every mountain, is the bottom of the next! May we Live Well, Do Good, and never forget, that Every Gift Matters!
Melissa Q. Spain, CEO
The Community Foundation of NC East