Mission Possible! Open Door Fund Campaign Exceeds $1 Million Goal
The $1 million campaign to endow the Open Door Fund of the North Carolina Bar Foundation is complete. Caryn McNeill and Mark Holt, founding co-chairs of the Open Door Fund and Fellowship, shared the exciting news with the NCBF Board of Directors on April 4.
“We not only met – we surpassed – our goal,” McNeill announced. “We’ve raised one million, 16 thousand, six hundred and 30 dollars that will fund the work that we have described in perpetuity for the Foundation.” That work includes the flagship Open Door Fellows program that provides fellowships to first-year North Carolina law students from historically excluded or under-resourced backgrounds.
Open Door Fund and Fellowship Co-Chairs Caryn McNeill and Mark Holt
The announcement and the ensuing standing ovation marked the culmination of two-plus years of fundraising and the endowment of a fund established by the NCBF Board of Directors following the 2020 Report on Relationships Between the NCBA and Systemic Racism. The report, written by Executive Director Jason Hensley, detailed the North Carolina Bar Association’s relationships with systemic racism, including a limitation on membership to white attorneys from the time of its founding in 1899 through the mid-1960s, when attorneys of color continued to face obstacles to membership in the aftermath of the change to the membership requirement.
Holt and McNeill formally announced the launch of the “public phase” of the $1 million campaign at the 2024 NCBA Annual Meeting, by which time $700,000 in gifts and pledges had been committed. Included in the total amassed during the “silent phase” of the campaign were major gifts from the Founding Donors and the Presidents’ Challenge, pledging to match the first $100,000 raised during the “public phase” of the campaign.
“The early commitments were important,” Holt said. “The Founding Donors and those who participated in the Presidents’ Challenge – put the weight of their support behind our effort early, inspiring more than 200 individuals to give.”
Holt and McNeill expressed their gratitude in a message that went out to the Founding Donors and Past Presidents once the $1 million goal was attained:
“Thanks to your generosity, the Open Door Fund will support the dreams and aspirations of deserving North Carolina law students for years to come. As Open Door Fellows go on to serve the people of our state in important ways, we all can take pride in being a part of their journey to our profession.”
Key to the success of the campaign were a dedicated group of Open Door Ambassadors (listed on the Open Door Fund homepage) who stepped forward in the final months of the campaign, providing vital support in securing the final gifts and commitments – some of the hardest dollars to raise.
“The Ambassadors were helpful on several fronts,” McNeill added. “They worked their own networks, which expanded our reach, and they shared their enthusiasm. Some of the Ambassadors serve on the Open Door Fund Committee that operates the program and chooses the Fellows, so they able to share firsthand their sense for the difference the Open Door Fellows Program is making. We really needed that extra reach to get us across the finish line.”
In making their announcement to the NCBF Board of Directors, McNeill and Holt paid tribute to Director of Development Michael Lowery and Development Services Coordinator Jennifer Swanchara for their contributions to campaign.
“They are truly excellent development professionals,” McNeill said. “They brought a real understanding for the pacing, structure and strategy this kind of fundraising effort requires, plus they were fun to work with. They just couldn’t have been better, and I love for them that they got this big win under their belts so early in their tenure with the Foundation.”
It is indeed a big win, and a historic win for an esteemed organization that has never generated this level of support for a program such as this.
“I’m excited about this for its own sake,” McNeill continued, “but I’m also really excited for what it means for the future of our Foundation. Other than for the Bar Center, we’ve never raised anything of this magnitude for one cause, and certainly not for programming.
“Frankly, fundraising for programming requires people to listen a little more closely to what you’re up to, and to agree that they share your vision. It can make for longer conversations. But giving to programming makes terrific sense, because programs, unlike bricks and mortar, can be endlessly tweaked and adapted to meet changing needs.
“I love that our success with the Open Door Fund invites us to think about what more is possible. The mission of the Foundation is to unite the talent and generosity of our profession to be a power of greater good for the people of North Carolina, and that’s what we’ve done here. We’ve done this together as a team – a team made up of our Founding Donors, Past Presidents, Ambassadors, exceptional staff, and hundreds of individual donors – and we have done a remarkable thing.”
A recurring theme, enshrined in the nameplate of the Open Door Fund and Fellowship, resonated with many donors.
Holt believes the campaign caused donors to reflect on those who inspired them and welcomed them to the legal profession. “Many of us who support the Open Door Fund think of lawyers who opened doors for us early in our careers,” Holt said. “We can honor our mentors best by opening doors for the next generation of lawyers. “Thinking of the service to others they will provide during their careers sustains my hope for the future.”
“This is really more about the program than the fund, but I think it inspired some of the giving that we as lawyers want to provide. Our current law students who need it most know how valuable it is to have doors open for you within this profession.”
McNeill agrees wholeheartedly. “Many of our donors gave out of a sense of gratitude for the support they received early on in their careers, and there is an awareness that not everyone has someone in their corner in the way that a lot of us were fortunate to as we were getting started.”
“We are trying to be those people for these young folks – that is what this is really about.”
Mission accomplished!
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.