Foundation for the Carolinas

The Foundation for the Carolinas is a donor-advised charity with a non-exclusive focus on North Carolina and South Carolina.[1][2]

The foundation has supported many projects in Charlotte, the city where it is headquartered. It has funded local non-profits that provide services for refugees and asylum seekers. The foundation has also given millions of dollars to anti-immigration groups such as NumbersUSA, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, and the Center for Immigration Studies. This has been the focus of criticism from local and national groups. America’s Voice, a pro-immigration group, has asked the foundation to stop funding such groups. The foundation's president and CEO, Michael Marsicano, has defended his group's actions in terms of free speech. He asked: "Philanthropy is a form of freedom of speech, and I don’t think any institution should be cutting off freedom of speech on fund-holders. If we did, where would it stop?"[1][2][3]

The bulk of the foundation's donations are made at the direction of donors who may choose to support any IRS-qualified non-profit organization they wish. The Charlotte Observer conducted a review of the ten largest community foundations in the United States and found that the Foundation for the Carolinas was the only one that supported nativist and anti-immigration causes.[1] The foundation is not a unified fund. It is actually a collection of funds worth about $2.6 billion as of late 2019. The foundation helps philanthropists and non-profit organizations with the investment and administration of their assets for a fee.[3]