Who We Fund

The North Carolina Bar Foundation Endowment makes grants available to North Carolina organizations that are engaged in programming or projects that advance the Foundation’s values of access to justice, service through the profession, civic education, professionalism, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Grant applications are reviewed annually by the NCBF Endowment Committee, which makes recommendations for grant awards for approval by the NCBF Board of Directors. Learn more about NCBF Endowment Funds that support specifically defined grants and scholarships.

The NCBF Endowment was established in 1985 and it is sustained primarily through the generosity of donors, and their families and colleagues, who commit major gifts in the form of named funds, including Justice Funds ($50,000 endowment), Lawyer Impact Funds ($25,000 endowment), and Liberty Funds ($10,000 endowment). Named Endowment Funds are instrumental to the Foundation’s mission, vision, and values – now and into the future.

About 40% of the Funds that make up the Endowment are restricted, meaning that the annual distributions from those funds must be used for specifically defined purposes. Some examples of restricted funds within the NCBF Endowment are the Open Door Fund, the Legal Aid of NC Fund, the Jane B. Weathers Lawyers Helping Lawyers Fund, the Bar Exam Fund, the Inscoe Scholarship Fund, the Douglas C. McIntyre Fund in support of the NCBF Youth Leadership Challenge, and the Allan B. Head Fund for Leadership, Professionalism and Service.

Unrestricted funding within the NCBF Endowment is distributed annually by the NCBF Endowment Committee in the form of grants. This year (FYE25), the Endowment Committee reviewed 33 applications for endowment grant funding and the Board approved the committee’s recommendation of funding for 26 applicants. The average grant amount was $4,295.