Growing the Caldwell Fund

An increased Eddie Caldwell Fund will allow nearly all future capital fund-raising efforts to focus on missions such as the new Academic Excellence Fund and other initiatives to support programs that will keep our chapter in the forefront of the renaissance of fraternities at UNC. Recent active brothers, encouraged and guided by the chapter advisor, Scott Smith ’80, and the corporation’s board of directors have become a model of academic improvement and philanthropic efforts.

The Caldwell Fund was established thanks to the generosity of Beta of UNC DKE alumni brothers, actives, and parents and friends of the chapter as a part of the With A Certain Devotion Campaign. It has served to help maintain and update the house.

The Caldwell Fund has functioned as envisioned and still maintains a balance of $400,000. In its current form, the Fund’s interest, growth, and principal are used to meet major plant maintenance and replacement needs. Those needs will eventually deplete the Fund at some point.

The Beta of DKE Corporation directors made a thoughtful, bold, and prudent decision to fund the Eddie Caldwell Fund at a level that will allow it to function as a true endowment, which will provide proceeds for major maintenance and renovations in perpetuity. This long-term solution, barring a catastrophe or some unforeseen, wholesale change in the facility, will virtually eliminate bricks and mortar fundraising in the future.

Three devoted and generous leaders from the class of 1968 have made a generous offer of $200,000 to the chapter family—actives, alumni, parents, parents of alumni, and friends. Their model of generosity, commitment, and consistency should engender in the UNC DKE family a response that will meet and exceed their inspiring challenge.

This challenge grant will provide $200,000 IF Beta of DKE raises an additional $400,000 by  December 31, 2017. It’s critical that we meet this challenge in order for the Caldwell Fund to reach $1 million.

*The current IRS rules preclude any support given to a private fraternity organization from being a charitable tax deduction.