UNC Receives $10M Commitment from Pope Foundation

UNC announced Monday that it would be receiving a $10 million commitment from the John William Pope Foundation.

The donation will be split between the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program, the track and field program and the UNC Horizons program, which provides an outreach service to the state to treat pregnant and parenting women with substance-use disorders.

Chancellor Carol Folt thanked the Pope family, not only for this gift but for a long history of donations to the university.

“This gift embraces, in every way we can imagine, UNC’s commitment to our multi-pronged mission, from teaching and education, from high-impact life-saving research, to deep, public service,” said Folt.

The Pope family’s ties to UNC date back to the 1940s when John Pope attended the university.

Conservative philanthropist and president of the John William Pope Foundation Art Pope credited the university at Monday’s press conference announcing the gift for fueling his family’s success.

“The University of North Carolina has benefited the entire state for centuries in its education and teaching, its research and public service,” said Pope. “And our family has been fortunate enough to benefit from that education as graduates from the University of North Carolina.”

The largest portion of the donation will establish the John William Pope “Tomorrow’s Best Hope” Endowed Fellowship Fund, which will generate nearly $250,000 in scholarships each year for the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dean of the School of Medicine Dr. William Roper called the commitment “incredible.”

“This will allow us to be fully competitive with the other leading institutions in the country that do training for careers in cancer research and cancer treatment,” said Roper. “It’s a truly visionary, transformative gift.”

The commitment supports UNC’s For All Kind fundraising campaign, which has a goal of $4.25 billion raised by December 31, 2022. The campaign is the largest in state history for a public university.