Facts about the “Campaign for Counties”

Utilizing the NC Cooperative Extension Service Foundation, the NC 4-H Development Fund, the NC Family and Consumer Sciences Foundation, and the NC Landscapes of Opportunity Foundation to support Cooperative Extension Programs

Missions:

The mission of the NC Cooperative Extension Service Foundation (NCCESF) is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (CES) through increased recognition, funding and gifts from the private sector, from current and retired CES employees and from friends of CES. The mission of the NC 4-H Development Fund is to develop current and future leaders by securing and managing resources dedicated to supporting the 4-H Youth Development Program in all North Carolina counties. The NC Family and Consumer Sciences Foundation is committed to acquiring and managing resources that support family and consumer programs and the educators who deliver them.

The overall goal of the private resource development arm of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service is to creatively provide resources that will enhance the statewide, regional, and county programmatic efforts of NCCES. Through innovative gifts of cash, securities, land, and estate plans, the Cooperative Extension Service Foundation and the foundations that are placed under its umbrella, endowments have more than doubled in six years, gifts of land are providing unique opportunities for program, and estate gifts are beginning to endow named county extension directorships and other positions.

The “Campaign for Counties” has been created to provide agents and volunteers with an opportunity to partner with these two foundations to secure and manage the private funds necessary to “help people put knowledge to work.” Programmatic resources, operating funds, and endowments to sustain CES are among the areas targeted in the “Campaign for Counties.”

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Foundation, the North Carolina 4-H Development Fund, the North Carolina Family and Consumer Sciences Foundation, and the North Carolina Landscapes of Opportunity Foundation are entities within the NC Agricultural Foundation, Inc. as described in each of Section 170(b)(1)(A) and Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.

• North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Foundation accepts gifts that support any component of NC CES
• North Carolina 4-H Development Fund (accepting gifts for 4-H youth development programs at the local, county and state levels)
• North Carolina Family and Consumer Sciences Foundation (accepting gifts for family and consumer programs at the local, county and state levels)
• North Carolina Landscapes of Opportunity Foundation (accepting gifts of land that can be preserved/utilized to provide extension or research programs to benefit the citizens of the state)

How are funds invested?

Funds in the NCCES Foundation (and the entities it supports) are invested in a diversified portfolio of long term, intermediate and short term investments. Because these foundations are entities in the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation, they are invested in the same instruments. Restricted funds, Enhancement Funds, and Building to Endowment Funds are invested in short term and intermediate term investments because these accounts must remain liquid. Endowed funds are invested in high yielding, long term investments since these funds are invested in perpetuity.

Short-term and Intermediate Funds are currently invested in the Common Fund. Endowed funds held in the NCCES Foundation are invested with over $200 million pooled dollars at NC State University through the NC State University Investment Fund, Inc. providing opportunities for a much higher interest earning capability than could be realized as a stand-alone investment. The Investment Fund is governed by its own board of directors who review the performance of the portfolio and make adjustments on a quarterly basis. Investment income on all funds in the Foundations is compounded on a quarterly basis.