ANONYMOUS SOURCES: After a dozen years under the radar, a Raleigh foundation is making some waves.

• Author: Mitchell, Tucker
• Position: NCTREND: Philanthropy

The Anonymous Trust isn't named Anonymous for nothing. With $285 million in assets at the end of 2021, it ranks among the state's 20 largest foundations. But since its launch 12 years ago, it's kept a low profile and a keen focus on addressing the many human-service issues facing eastern North Carolina.

Started from the estate of the late Nancy Bryan Faircloth, the trust has three employees, two board members and no formal office or website. Friends and family say the low-overhead, no-nonsense style would fit Faircloth, a resident of Raleigh and Greensboro who died in 2010 at the age of 79.

She was the youngest daughter of Joseph M. Bryan and his wife, Kathleen Price, an heir to the fortune built by Julian Price starting after World War I. His linchpin was Greensboro-based Jefferson Standard Life Insurance, which became a national powerhouse. Lincoln National bought the company for $7.5 billion in 2006.

Joseph Bryan married Kathleen Price in 1927 and helped expand the company into broadcasting. He died at age 99 in 1995, having set up charitable entities, including an eponymous foundation that was instrumental in attracting Toyota Motor's big electric-battery plant under construction near Greensboro.

While Anonymous is bigger than Joseph Bryan's main philanthropy, its profile is smaller--just the way Nancy Faircloth would have liked. She didn't believe foundations should have fancy offices or bloated operating budgets lest they become "all puffed," says her only daughter, Anne Bryan Faircloth.

"The whole point behind the anonymity, behind the name, was to avoid that. Keeping your name out of it, that's one way to stay humble," Anne Faircloth adds. "She liked to keep her philanthropy low-key, thought that was the right way to do it, but she'd rattle the cage and make some noise when it was needed."

Recently, the cage has rattled quite a bit. Over the past two years, the trust has awarded more than $15 million to public colleges in eastern North Carolina. That includes the fund's largest gift, a $7.2 million grant to N.C. State University's School of Education to enhance teacher training and diversity, and a $5.9 million grant to Fayetteville State University for a variety of projects. It's a record donation for the historically Black university.

Anonymous also made a $2.9 million gift to UNC Pembroke for its Brave Scholars program, aimed at recruiting future teachers from and for Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties. East Carolina...