FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 9, 2003
For additional information contact
Jim Goodmon, President (919) 821-8504

AJFF Exective Director Tom McGuire

RALEIGH, NC - Jim Goodmon, President of the A. J. Fletcher Foundation announced today that Tom McGuire, Executive Director of the A. J. Fletcher Foundation, is stepping down at the end of this year. "In my 15 years at the Fletcher Foundation, I've had the opportunity to work with hundreds of outstanding individuals and worthy organizations across the state," McGuire said. "It has been an honor to play a part in the growth and effectiveness of North Carolina's nonprofit sector."

McGuire, who served as Executive Director of both the North Carolina Symphony and the Arkansas Symphony prior to joining the Foundation, has established a private-sector advisory firm specializing in organizational planning, management issues and resource development. "Creating my own business has been a long held dream. With over 25 years' direct experience in the field, I'm looking forward to serving a variety of organizations and management needs."

McGuire was chosen as the Fletcher Foundation's first Executive Director in 1988. Since that time, he has overseen the distribution of over $40 million in charitable gifts to North Carolina nonprofits.

"The Foundation is grateful for Tom's contributions over the years. Tom can write the book on effective management in the nonprofit community, including capacity-building and the use of partnerships. We plan to work with Tom as a consultant in our arts activities in the future," stated Jim Goodmon.

Among the major projects that marked McGuire's tenure with the Foundation was the establishment of the Fletcher School of Performing Arts in 1988. For the next 12 years, the FSPA carried out and expanded the work of the National Opera Company, the musical institution for which Mr. A. J. Fletcher had created the foundation.

In the early 1990's the Foundation instituted a series of statewide meetings that brought representatives of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations together for discussion of common concerns. It was during that time that the Foundation made a commitment to "development" or "capacity building" grants---donations that have enabled numerous organizations to reach their full level of effectiveness.

The Fletcher Foundation has been noted for the diversity of its interests: the rescue and renovation of Raleigh's historic Briggs Hardware Building (in partnership with Preservation North Carolina); rehabilitation of the 1911 Boylan-Pearce Building; administration of the largest music scholarship program in North Carolina; publication of a biography of Mr. Fletcher and history of the Foundation to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1998; and creation of The Philanthropy Journal, an online news source for nonprofits across the nation.

McGuire cites as highlights of his tenure at the Foundation the creation of the Fletcher Opera Institute at the North Carolina School of the Arts and construction of the A. J. Fletcher Opera Theater at the BTI Performing Arts Center (in partnership with the City of Raleigh). "In both these major initiatives, we have honored Mr. Fletcher's legacy, as well as given the people of North Carolina institutions of lasting value," he said.

His philosophy was always to create working partnerships with grantee organizations, believing strongly that donors and recipients represent two equal sides of the same coin when it comes to solving community problems.