The Duke Endowment

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The Duke Endowment is a private foundation established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke. The mission of the foundation is to serve the people of North Carolina and South Carolina by supporting selected programs of higher education, health care, children's welfare, and spiritual life.

James B. Duke endowed the foundation on December 11, 1924 with $40 million (over $430 million in 2005 dollars). In the Indenture of Trust, Mr. Duke specified that he wanted the Endowment to support Duke University, Davidson College, Furman University, Johnson C. Smith University; not-for-profit hospitals and children's homes in the two Carolinas; and rural United Methodist churches in North Carolina, retired pastors, and their surviving families. When Mr. Duke died in 1925, he left the Endowment an additional $65 million (over $725 million in 2005 dollars) in funds.

The market value of the Endowment's assets have grown to approximately $3.5 billion. From 1924-2004, the Endowment has given $2,019,129,375.

The Duke Endowment is a co-publisher, along with the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, of the North Carolina Medical Journal, a journal of health policy analysis and debate).[1]