The Power of Discretionary Funding

February 13, 2023

PlayMakers’ fall 2021 production of The Skin of Our Teeth featured Ray Dooley (right) in his final performance as a PlayMakers Company member.

In his years working as head of a boarding school in New Jersey, T. Chandler “Chan” Hardwick ’75 learned firsthand the importance of having discretionary funding to fulfill his responsibilities and achieve his goals.

So when he decided to support the College in the Campaign for Carolina, he knew he wanted his gifts to offer that same flexibility.

“Now that I’m retired and in a position to help the programs that shaped my UNC education, I want the leaders of Carolina’s PlayMakers Repertory Company and the department of philosophy to have the same financial flexibility that I was fortunate enough to have as an educational leader,” Hardwick said.

To that end, he established two endowment funds: the T. Chandler Hardwick III Producing Artistic Director Fund to support PlayMakers Repertory Company and the T. Chandler Hardwick Chair’s Discretionary Fund for the department of philosophy. These areas were important to Hardwick, as he had been involved as a student in PlayMakers and majored in philosophy.

“Given my experience, I prefer allowing those leaders involved with the daily reality of their work to decide the best use of funding,” Hardwick said. “Can the support make a difference with an ongoing department goal? Help a student fulfill a project? Bring together and raise morale among the staff? Allow the department chair to say ‘yes’ instead of ‘we can’t’? Over time, such a discretionary allowance can prove not only helpful but quite powerful.”