When I saw the name and location of Winston Salem, North Carolina’s Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, I was instantly reminded of one of my favorite recent reads—Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley. A North Carolina based non-profit with Reynolds in it name has to be tied to the tobacco industry, and it is. “The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation was established in 1936 as a memorial to the youngest son of the founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company,” and it seems to be one of the few good things that has come out of the tobacco industry—”a trust for charitable works in the State of North Carolina.” The Foundation is focused on making grants to non-profit organizations in the areas of Community Economic Development, Democracy and Civic Engagement, the Environment, Pre-Collegiate Education, and Social Justice and Equity, which, in my opinion, is a huge improvement on the other things associated with the Reynolds name.

Improving North Carolina Grant by Grant

The cool thing about foundations like the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is that they get to give out lots of money. That’s what allows them to have such a wide range of focuses. Instead of having to do everything themselves, they can find the best organizations with the best people and fund them. Although the Foundation has had to make some changes due to the economy, they still have plenty of money to spread to do-gooders in North Carolina. If you’d like to spend some time working at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, then you should check out their Jobs page. Although they don’t have any permanent positions posted right now, they do have an annual fellowship that they offer (it lasts 2 years, but they offer a new one every year). It sounds like a pretty cool gig, as “the fellow acts as a junior program officer and works with Foundation staff in evaluating grant proposals and visiting with grant applicants.” The application deadline is January 11, 2010, so check out all the information and see if a fellowship at Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is something that you want to do.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• ZSR.org
• Jobs at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
• Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation’s Vision
• Staff at the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
• History of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

What have you heard about the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation?

We've identified Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• fellowship programs
• grant writing
• North Carolina
• program development

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