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The Duke Endowment – 100 Years of Commitment to the Carolinas


Duke Endowment centennial logo

By Eric Frazier


Throughout 2024, The Duke Endowment is celebrating its 100th anniversary, marking a century of philanthropic grantmaking across North Carolina and South Carolina.

With a theme of “Committed to the Carolinas,” the celebration amplifies the Endowment’s insights from a century of work in health care, higher education, child and family well-being, and rural United Methodist churches and communities. It all stems from the vision of James B. Duke, a North Carolina native who rose to become one of the 20th century’s greatest industrialists and philanthropists. After earning fortunes in the tobacco and hydroelectric power industries, he created the Endowment in 1924 with a mandate to help improve life in the Carolinas.

photo of the James B. Duke statue on the Trail of History
James B. Duke honored in 2015 on the Charlotte Trail of History

Since its founding, the Endowment has awarded approximately $4.8 billion in grants -- $11.6 billion in today’s dollars. It is the largest private foundation in the Southeast, with more than 85 percent of its total spending going to grantmaking. (The Endowment shares its name and founder with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations).

Photo of Duke Endowment Staff and Trustees at centennial celebration
The Duke Endowment Centennial Celebration in Asheville, NC on August 26, 2024

The Endowment’s staff and Trustees have spent 2024 traveling across the Carolinas, holding local celebrations in regions where the foundation has established deep grantmaking ties. On Dec. 11, 2024, the Endowment will celebrate the exact day of its birth and a century of progress made possible thanks to the grantees and partners with whom we have worked to enrich lives and strengthen communities.


You can learn more by visiting our centennial traveling exhibit in person as it makes its way around the Carolinas, or by visiting its interactive online version:  





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