DONNA THOMPSON / CAPE FEAR GARDEN CLUB
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The annual Azalea Festival, a spring tradition in
Wilmington with Southern traditions, concerts
and fireworks, benefits the community through
its economic impact and direct and indirect
giving. Above: Future president Ronald Reagan
(second from left) was the emcee for the 1959
Azalea Festival. Actress Debra Paget was
crowned queen.
The Azalea Children’s Tea raises money for
the Cape Fear Volunteer Center.
The mission to help the local economy led
the Azalea Festival to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit
foundation. The tax-exempt classification
makes it easier to apply for grants and contrib-ute
to nonprofit groups.
It also allows sponsors and patrons to
deduct a portion of their contributions.
“It’s a great marketing piece in general,
especially for individuals at our patron level
of $1,250,” says 2018 president Justin Wolfe,
who proposed the idea in 2015. “Now they can
deduct about $500 of that contribution from
their taxes.”
The Azalea Festival was founded by
Dr. Houston Moore in 1948, to celebrate the
transformation of Greenfield Lake into a park. That first festival cleared $5,000 and
became an annual event.
“(It was) a profit we knew we had to have or we would never see the second
festival,” the festival’s first president, Hugh Morton, wrote in a letter posted to the
festival’s website.
Those sentiments still ring true. The organization’s most recent tax returns
reveal revenues and expenses exceeding $2 million, and net assets of $82,034.
“The whole purpose of the festival is to raise enough funds so we can have
another festival,” English says. “Our goal is to make the festival bigger and better,
which in turn makes our community bigger and better.”
NORTH CAROLINA AZALEA FESTIVAL AT WILMINGTON, INC.
NORTH CAROLINA AZALEA FESTIVAL AT WILMINGTON, INC.
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