John William Pope Foundation: On the Right & In the Community
Updated July 19, 2008
It is well-known in public-policymaking circles that without the ongoing support of the John William Pope Foundation, many of the state's leading conservative education and research foundations would not be in existence today.
Mission
The mission of the Pope Foundation is to improve the well-being of the citizens of North Carolina by advancing individual liberty and personal responsibility.
History
The John William Pope Foundation began in 1986, when it was incorporated with an initial Board of Directors consisting of the family of John William Pope (his wife, Joyce W. Pope and his three children, John W. Pope, Jr., Amanda Joyce Pope, and James Arthur "Art" Pope). It was initially funded by the family business, Variety Wholesalers, Inc., and by direct contributions from members of the Pope family. Its activities are directed by Art Pope, who is also an officer of Variety Wholesalers, Inc.
Background
According to former Senator Lauch Faircloth, retailing entrepreneur John William Pope, despite a reputation for tight fiscal management, gave more money to the North Carolina Republican Party than anyone else he ever knew (Raleigh News & Observer, 8/21/06). But Pope believed strongly in philanthropy, and he wanted to support and preserve the principles of individual liberty and a free enterprise economy that had allowed America to prosper - and for him to personally succeed in business.
John William Pope began working in his father's Fuquay-Varina store at the young age of ten for fifty cents a day. Although his obituary said that he planned to retire a millionaire at age thirty-five, he never did, remaining active in the family discount chain Variety Wholesalers until his death at age eighty in 2006.
John's son, the well known Republican lawyer and former House member James Arthur "Art" Pope, continues to head up both the retailing business and the Foundation today, serving as Chairman and President of the Pope Foundation as well as Chairman, President, and CEO of Variety Wholesalers, Inc. Pope served as Special Counsel to Republican Governor Jim Martin in 1985 and was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 1992. He served four terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives, from 1989-1991 and again from 1999-2001. Pope received a good deal of publicity in 2006 as a leader of the opposition to the House co-speakership arrangement between Richard Morgan, a Republican, and Democrat Jim Black. Pope steered funding from Variety Wholesalers, Inc. to a "527 Fund" that criticized Morgan, Black, and the coalition. Morgan was subsequently defeated in the May 2006 Republican primary, and House Speaker Jim Black resigned in early 2007 in disgrace after pleading guilty to corruption. He was later sentenced to a federal penitentiary.
The trustees of the closely-held Foundation share the founder's outlook as evidenced by their history of contributions to conservative and liberty-minded groups and service to the Republican Party. President and Chairman of the Board Art Pope and Joyce Pope have contributed over $75,000 to Republicans at the national level and to the North Carolina Republican Party during the current decade. Amanda Pope, Art's sister, also serves as a trustee.
None of the Pope Foundation trustees receive compensation. The Foundation is wholly funded by the Pope family.
Funding Conservative Advocacy Groups
The Pope Foundation supports a diverse collection of conservative, free market and libertarian oriented think tanks ranging from national ones like the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute to locally grown organizations like the John Locke Foundation. National groups like the well-known pork barrel spending fighters Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) are also recipients of foundation support. The Foundation demonstrates an interest in promoting conservative media and encouraging young people to go into journalism through the UNC School of Journalism, the James Madison Center for Free Speech, and the Phillips Foundation.
The Pope Foundation has also taken its activism to the judiciary through its funding of the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, which has filed court actions challenging the constitutionality of such legislation as that which granted special tax breaks for Dell Computer Corp., and the method by which lawmakers adopted a state lottery.
The Pope Foundation has contributed over $28.6 million in the last three years alone on numerous conservative leaning public policy groups and community related causes ranging from education and environmental conservation to animal welfare.
Education
The Pope Foundation exhibits support for education with direct grants to both public and private colleges. It has also funded efforts for history education in schools. In addition, the Foundation has a demonstrated interest in the issue of school choice, funding programs like the Milton & Rose Friedman Foundation, a leading voucher proponent, which has performed North Carolina specific research on public school dropouts. Often portrayed as anti-public education because of its school choice philosophy, the Foundation has assisted the Communities in Schools project and also gave money to the public library in Henderson, home of the Pope affiliated retailer Rose's Stores.
The Pope Foundation was asked to support a Western Civilization program at UNC but this effort was met with resistance as faculty members expressed concerns about bringing the Foundation's conservative philosophy to its Chapel Hill campus. The university, however, did accept $2,000,000 from the Popes for its football program. The Foundation also recently made an unrestricted grant to Campbell University, which is moving its law school from Buies Creek to Raleigh.
Another funded organization, the Pope Center for Higher Education, is frequently quoted on subjects ranging from tuition increases to the declining emphasis on Shakespeare.
Community
A recent $1 million donation to Hospice of Wake County for an inpatient care facility and multiple grants to groups as diverse as the Raleigh Rescue Mission, Triangle Land Conservancy, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Wake County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Raleigh Fine Arts Society, North Carolina Symphony, and the opera demonstrate the foundation's wide range of community involvement. Interestingly, while the Pope Foundation contributes to the Tryon Palace and Raleigh's Mordecai House, in keeping with their libertarian view of private philanthropy instead of government support, the Pope-funded John Locke Foundation advocates less taxpayer dollars for historic sites like Tryon Palace in favor of higher admission fees and more charitable giving.
Ideological Diversity
While the foundation tilts to the right in most ideological issues, a grant to the liberal-leaning group Common Cause shows that the Foundation can be surprising. But the Pope Foundation shares Common Cause's concern for more transparency in government, and the Foundation contributed to a Common Cause-led collaborative effort to reform North Carolina's lobbying laws (the Capitol Monitor, another transparency advocate, also receives funding from JWPF).
Foundation Assets
The John William Pope Foundation is a private, 501 C-3 charitable organization. According to its 2007 IRS 990PF filing, the current assets of the Pope Foundation total $54 million.
Foundation Staff
The Pope Foundation currently employs a staff of two, headed up by its Vice President of Operations & Programs, David Riggs.
Grant Cycles
The John William Pope Foundation does not have a formal grant cycle. However, it customarily funds North Carolina-based and local grants (primarily in Wake & Vance Counties) in December of each year, national public-policy organizations in June, and North Carolina public-policy organizations on a monthly basis.
Summary
According to the latest report available by NC Gives, the John William Pope Foundation is ranked as North Carolina's 21st largest grant-maker. While the Pope Foundation is most noted for their support of right-leaning public policy concerns, the organization invests heavily in a wide-range of community and charitable endeavors that receive little public notice.
Sampling of Grant Activity per 2007 Reporting
| $170,000 | Americans for Prosperity |
| $37,500 | Boy Scouts of |
| $1,000,000 | |
| $75,000 | Cato Institute |
| $5,000 | Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) |
| $25,000 | Common Cause Education Fund |
| $5,000 | Communities in Schools |
| $10,000 | H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library ( |
| $100,000 | Heritage Foundation |
| $10,000 | Hospice of |
| $40,000 | |
| $2,599,508 | John Locke Foundation |
| $1,620,000 | John William Pope Civitas Institute |
| $75,000 | Milton & Rose Friedman Foundation |
| $5,000 | Mordecai House |
| $426,000 | North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law |
| $5,000 | North Carolina Girl Scouts |
| $30,000 | North Carolina Opera |
| $25,000 | North Carolina Symphony |
| $5,000 | Phillips Foundation |
| $444,000 | |
| $25,000 | |
| $5,000 | |
| $5,000 | |
| $1,000 | |
| $10,000 | |
| $1,000 |
Pope Foundation grants per 2006-07 IRS Form 990: 208 grants totaling $11,996,133
Contact
David W. Riggs, Ph.D. Vice President, Operations & Programs
John William Pope Foundation
225 Hillsborough St., Suite 250
Raleigh, N.C. 27603
Telephone: (919) 861-6444
Website: www.jwpf.org (under construction)
Updated July 19, 2008
