Learning & Resources

In this President's Message, Kellan Moore reflects on lessons learned as the Endowment works to advance racial equity. 

In this “What We’re Learning”, the chair of the John Rex Endowment Finance and Audit Committee, Kate Simpson, offers insight into what it means for the committee to do its work through a lens of racial equity.

In the ongoing series “What We’re Learning,” Sabrina Slade, Social Innovation Director with John Rex Endowment, shares her views on racial equity as a Black woman, as a Southern funder, and her hopes for the philanthropic sector.

The Triangle Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee hosted "Critical Conversations Series: Chaos over Community: Where Do We Go From Here?" on Friday, June 5, 2020. The 60-minute Facebook Live program engaged diverse leaders representing community, nonprofit organizations, and local funders. John Rex Endowment president and CEO Kellan Moore joined panelists in the discussion on justice and change.  During the program Moore shared thoughts about the philanthropic sector's role to move change forward, stating that silence is complicity - which is not acceptable.

Gladys Hairston, Program Officer with John Rex Endowment, has a unique “seat at the table” with grantees and community leaders as a matter of course. With the advent of the COVID-19 challenges, she has become a “virtual” listener and observer, bringing back important information to the Endowment about how nonprofits are coping.  Recently we spoke with her about the lessons she’s learning and observations she’s making.

Arts Access, the Wake County nonprofit founded in 1982 to make the arts accessible to people with disabilities, recently received a three-year grant from the John Rex Endowment to continue the work of their pilot project entitled Wake Arts Inclusion Project (WAIP). Educators and community leaders agree that the arts are good for kids’ mental and socio-emotional well-being, helping them develop their identities, build self-esteem and form relationships. However, studies show that kids with disabilities aren’t meaningfully included in arts opportunities at the same rate as their peers without disabilities, in both school and out-of-school time settings.

More than four years ago, The Kaleidoscope Project made its debut in Wake County.  The project, funded by the John Rex Endowment, “turns places kids go into places kids grow” through bringing to life five best practices in a range of places where vulnerable children, typically age 0-8, spend time living, learning and growing.

Visualize a unicorn. It’s white, one-horned, a mystical creature often crowned by rainbows, associated with sayings like “always be yourself.” Now, visualize a unicorn and its place in the nonprofit world. Sound far-fetched? Not to the staff and directors of the John Rex Endowment who are collectively reading Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations Can Build EPIC Partnerships.

Wake County’s Youth Thrive, a John Rex Endowment grantee, is a successful collaborative that amplifies the reach of resources available to youth by increasing communication, identifying gaps and aligning resources for youth programs and services. The collaboration is comprised of a broad array of more than 40 organizations and professionals serving youth ages 5-18 in Wake County including the school system, afterschool providers, government, health and human services, juvenile justice, law enforcement, faith-based organizations, business and behavioral health.

In October 2018, we released our Strategic Roadmap setting the stage for how the John Rex Endowment will meet the challenges facing Wake County children and their families. Following the announcement, we invited community partners to join our staff for one of three “Coffee and Conversation” sessions for the opportunity to discuss and ask questions about the Roadmap. The sessions brought together 36 people from over 30 organizations.