New Hanover Community Endowment addresses concerns after public meeting
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Since its creation in 2020, the New Hanover Community Endowment has given $125 million to community organizations.
On Wednesday, endowment leaders heard directly from the community at their bi-annual public meeting.
At the event, CEO Dan Winslow unveiled the endowment’s new “roadmap” to meet the needs of the community.
“The vision laid out in this roadmap is to improve the quality of life for everybody in New Hanover County from before birth to adulthood and beyond,” Winslow said.
One question from the crowd–how can the endowment support groups facing federal funding cuts?
Winslow says those grants will still be decided on a case-by-case basis, but he encourages organizations in need of funding to apply.
“Some folks that are currently receiving federal funding to do those things, may well come to us, and if they do, and they advance this vision, I think they will have a very strong chance of a positive review,” he said.
Another concern raised during the meeting is transparency.
To that end—Winslow says the endowment is launching a tool on their website where residents can view every grant that’s awarded, financial reports, governing documents and more.
But transparency doesn’t work without awareness.
“We absolutely need to work on the level of awareness about the endowment,” Winslow noted. “We have to make sure that people are not just aware of us, but also know enough about us to take advantage of some of the opportunities we can create.”
Winslow adds achieving the endowment’s roadmap vision is only possible with community input.
“We can’t give money to every requester, but we can listen, we can learn, we can feel what it feels like to see through their eyes and to walk in their shoes and to understand what the need is,” he said. “Whether we can fund it this year, or next year, or some future year. But just showing up, I think is important.”
Winslow also encourages those interested to sign up for the endowment’s newsletter, which gives updates on new grant awards and community input opportunities.
