A.J. Fletcher Foundation: Changing With Its Leadership

Updated July 23, 2009

Mission
The A. J. Fletcher Foundation states that its mission is to support nonprofit organizations in their endeavors to enrich the lives and well-being of people in North Carolina.

History
AJJF was founded by Alfred Johnston Fletcher (1887-1979). A. J. Fletcher was born in the mountains of Western North Carolina and, over the years, gained statewide fame as a lawyer, entrepreneur and broadcaster.

Fletcher studied law at Wake Forest College and afterwards opened a law practice in Fuquay-Varina. His greatest business achievement, however, was the creation of Capitol Broadcasting Company in Raleigh, which began with the launch of a single 250-watt AM radio station in 1939, and grew into a regional media powerhouse.

In addition to his exceptional business acumen, Fletcher was also a strong supporter of the arts. In the late 1940s, Fletcher and some friends created the Grass Roots Opera Company, now known as the National Opera Company. Fletcher set aside funds to start an endowment, the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, designed to generate enough income each year to cover the costs of operation of the Opera Company. However, the assets in this endowment grew faster than the needs of the Company itself, and within a few years AJFF was in a position to help other musical groups. After his death in 1979, AJFF continued its founder’s support for the arts.

Until recent decades, AJFF was a relatively anonymous supporter of various musical institutions and scholarships in area colleges. In 1986, its assets grew to more than $50 million upon the sale of its interest in an insurance company. Thus, while the board continues to provide substantial support to symphony orchestras, opera companies, colleges, universities and other arts institutions, it has broadened the foundation’s focus to include public education, poverty programs, statewide service groups, and public policy organizations. AJFF also provides seed money for new and emerging nonprofit organizations.

Under the leadership of Barbara and Jim Goodmon, AJFF aims to be a force for social progress in North Carolina, strengthening human services, giving voice to people without a voice and shaping public policy through partnerships.

Programs & Issues
By far,. the A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute remains the organization's most important grantee, receiving more than $1 million from AJFF annually.  The institute offers performance-based graduate and post-graduate training to exceptional young singers.

But while continuing to support the arts, AJFF has changed its primary focus to human services, using grants and partnerships with other organizations to give "voice to North Carolinians who have no voice," and to affect policy change at the state level.

The Philanthropy Journal is a publication of AJFF that promotes its mission and supports its grantees. Through a daily website and free, weekly email bulletin, Philanthropy Journal delivers nonprofit news, resources, announcements and job listings.

In addition, AJFF provides funding to sustain the Fletcher Academy School of Achievement, a school for learning-disabled children who need a highly structured, very personalized context in which to learn. AJFF also supports the work of other worthy charitable, civic and social organizations.

A chief foundation objective for nearly two decades has been to help ensure the strength of North Carolina's nonprofit sector. AJFF has made grants to organizations in diverse fields to strengthen their internal operations. These grants have been used for staff salaries, administrative education and resource development, technical assistance and program development, and foundation-sponsored conferences for nonprofit boards and staff, focusing on management issues and technical tools.

According to A. J. Fletcher’s IRS 990 tax filing for the year 2007, the organization gifted 36 grant recipients during the year to the tune of $2,664,842, including:

$15,000	Alliance for AIDS Services
$2,000	Carolina Justice Policy Center
$50,000	Darryl Hunt Project
$35,000	Healing Place
$50,000	High Five Partnership for High School Excellence
$10,000	Hispanics in Philanthropy
$50,000	Jesse Helms Center
$222,222	Kenan Institute for Ethics
$25,000	NC Coalition for Lobbying & Gov’t Reform
$66,721	NC Housing Coalition
$205,000	NC Justice Center
$1,010,000	NCSA A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute
$50,000	NCSU Center for Non-Profit Studies
$1,000	NC Center for Nonprofits
$5,000	Oak Hill Academy
$10,000	Orange Congregations in Mission
$25,000	Red Cross
$20,000	Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
$300,000	The Fletcher Academy
$325,699	Wake Forest Law Scholarships
$4,800	Warren Family Institute
$50,000	WUNC-TV

Staff & Governance
According to their 2007 IRS tax filing, the A. J. Fletcher Foundation is staffed by an executive director, the editor/publisher of the Philanthropy Journal, and six additional staff members.  Though there are no apparent conflicts of interest, it should be noted that there are three members of the Goodmon family on the board of directors.

• Barbara Goodmon is the president and CEO of AJFF and leads a staff of eight, including Todd Cohen, editor and publisher of Philanthropy Journal. She is a 1994 graduate of Meredith College in Raleigh and completed the master of liberal studies program at North Carolina State University in 2000. She previously served as chairman of the Salvation Army, vice chairman of The Healing Place of Wake County and chairman of Wake County Human Services.
• James F. Goodmon, husband of Barbara Goodmon and grandson of A.J. Fletcher, is chairman of AJFF’s eight-member board and chairman of The Fletcher Academy School of Achievement. He joined Fletcher’s Capitol Broadcasting Company in 1968, and has been its President and CEO since 1979. Mr. Goodmon serves on numerous other boards, including Capitol Broadcasting Company, RBC Bank, Duke University Health System, and Leadership Triangle.  He is the grandson of A. J. Fletcher.
• James F. Goodmon, Jr., the son of Barbara and James Goodmon and great-grandson of A.J. Fletcher, serves on the AJFF board as well as on the board of directors of The Fletcher Academy School of Achievement.  He is the great-grandson of A. J. Fletcher.

There are five other members of the Board who specialize in a variety of areas, including finance and human services.

Annual Budget
According to AJFF’s 2007 IRS Form 990, the organization currently has assets of more than $50 million. In 2007, revenue totaled just over $4,800,000, a large percentage of this coming from dividends and interest on securities. Expenses during that year were just over $4,100,000, with reported lobbying expenses of about $1,000.

Summary
AJFF is a charitable fund with current assets of more than $50 million. Each year AJFF contributes between $2.5 million and $3 million to nonprofit organizations in North Carolina. Since 1988, $35 million in grants have been awarded.

Beginning in 2002, AJFF’s board of directors discontinued accepting unsolicited and unrelated grant requests and began to seek out potential grantees that address the issues that are important to the foundation.  Grants are paid entirely from the proceeds of investment earnings, and are thus affected by the performance of the stock and bond markets.

Historically, AJFF’s emphasis has been on education and the arts. More recently its emphasis has expanded to include human service needs, and support for strengthening the infrastructure of nonprofit organizations.

Though namesake A.J. Fletcher gave conservative pundit and politician Jesse Helms his start in broadcasting and Senator Helms served as a mentor to James Goodmon, there is no evidence that those prominently associated with AJFF are dedicated to conservative causes. In fact, the Foundation tends to support more left-leaning nonprofits than right-leaning ones (though not exclusively), and almost all political contributions by the Goodmon family during the 2008 election cycle were made to moderate Democrats.

Contact Information
Deremia Johnson, Program Coordinator
220 Fayetteville Street Mall, Suite. 300
Raleigh, NC 27601-1358
Phone: (919) 573-4640
FAX: (919) 573-4660
E-mail: djohnson@ajf.org
Website: http://www.ajf.org/