Ambassadors Bolster Campaign to Endow NCBF Open Door Fund

Written by Russell Rawlings 

Maintaining momentum is essential to the success of any fundraising drive, including the $1 million campaign to endow the Open Door Fund of the North Carolina Bar Foundation.

Announced at the 2024 NCBA Annual Meeting, the campaign is racing toward the end of the calendar year with more than $850,000 in gifts and pledges. A special matching gift opportunity made possible by a group of 32 NCBA+NCBF presidents and announced this summer is helping motivate new donors. The Presidents’ Challenge matches new gifts and pledges up to $100,000. To date, nearly half that amount has been committed, meaning that the next $50,000 raised will also be matched dollar for dollar.

Caryn McNeill and Mark Holt serve as co-chairs of the Open Door Fund while Catharine Arrowood is leading the Presidents’ Challenge. All three are past presidents of the NCBA and NCBF.

The flagship program of the Open Door Fund is the Open Door Fellowship, which is a competitive paid fellowship program for first-year North Carolina law students from historically excluded or under-resourced backgrounds.

In a concerted effort to endow the Open Door Fund and bring the Presidents’ Challenge across the finish line by the end of the 2024-25 bar year, more than two dozen Open Door Fund (ODF) Ambassadors have stepped forward to lend their support to this important cause. In addition to their personal gifts and pledges, the Ambassadors are assisting with the identification of potential donors and advocating on behalf of the Open Door Fund within their own networks of legal professionals, firms, corporations and organizations.

Tammy Nicholson, an NCBA+NCBF board member who serves as Senior Vice President and Senior Associate General Counsel with Truist in Charlotte, is an ODF Ambassador.

“It is important in any field to develop meaningful relationships and long-lasting connections, but especially to launch and build a successful legal career,” Nicholson said. “All of my great opportunities were built around relationships. This is why I get excited about supporting the Open Door program. It affords an opportunity for talented law students to make valuable connections within the legal community during law school before their legal careers begin.

“I learned early in my career that relationships and connections are sometimes the most important factors in landing that great new job or next big assignment. Being an advocate for the Open Door program is one of the highlights of serving in the NCBA.”

Jennifer Mencarini, a member of the NCBA Board of Governors, is also an ODF Ambassador. She serves as Director of Diversity and Inclusion for Fox Rothschild LLP in Greensboro and previously served as Director of Career Development at Elon University School of Law.

“As a former law school career advisor,” Mencarini said, “I recognize how challenging it can be for law students, especially those who identify as members of communities traditionally excluded from the legal profession or as first-generation students, to navigate the summer employment opportunities available to them.

“Our profession has been slow to reach equitable representation of historically underrepresented people, and the Open Door Fund and Fellowship are critical steps toward reaching inclusivity and equity. Practical experience is key to students’ identification of their practice interests and to developing their skillsets as they move toward law practice, and the Open Door program provides qualified students with those opportunities.

“It is a pleasure to support the Open Door program, and I hope others will join me in supporting this important work.”

The campaign to endow the Open Door Fund and the ODF Ambassadors share one very important common denominator – they need your support! Please answer the call to contribute and remember that pledges can be fulfilled over five years.

Learn more and contribute through the NCBF website, or contact Michael Lowery, NCBF Director of Development, via email or phone: 919-677-0992.

Thank you!