Winthrop University Foundation

Winthrop University Foundation

The Winthrop University Foundation was established in 1973 as a 501(c)(3) supporting organization to solicit, manage, and steward private gifts for Winthrop University. President Dr. Edward Serna sits ex officio on the board, while Dr. Andy Wilson serves as board president and Courtney Jurado directs day-to-day operations. The foundation functions as the university's primary philanthropic arm, channeling alumni donations and community contributions into scholarships, academic programs, and capital projects. Jurado's team deploys capital across an unusually physical mix for an endowment of its size: distressed debt, mezzanine lending, natural resources, and venture-stage investments. The foundation's holdings lean heavily into local real estate — The Courtyard at Winthrop student housing, the J. Robert Bazemore Design Center, multiple land parcels on Oakland Avenue and College Avenue, and a former Coca-Cola bottling plant at the intersection of Cherry Road and College Avenue. Liquid assets flow through a consolidated investment pool. The foundation also stewards non-financial assets including the Winthrop University Galleries Collection and the Vernon Grant memorabilia at the Louise Pettus Archives. The foundation operates with volunteer leadership drawn from the Rock Hill community. Board member Creighton Hayes belongs to the Rock Hill Rotary Club and serves on the York County Forever Commission, while board member Alice Davis is tied to Williams & Fudge, a family-run firm active in local philanthropy. The foundation maintains a co-investment and grantmaking partnership with Foundation For The Carolinas, embedding it within the region's institutional philanthropic fabric. No dedicated investment staff roster is publicly disclosed; investment decisions likely flow through the board's investment committee or outsourced advisors, a common structure for endowments below $100 million. The foundation's structural differentiator is its hybrid real-asset operational posture. Alongside the charitable gift fund sits the Winthrop University Real Estate Foundation, a separate entity that holds title to income-producing and development properties adjacent to campus. This two-entity architecture allows the foundation to act as both traditional endowment and opportunistic local developer — acquiring distressed industrial parcels like the Coke plant and repositioning them for university use, a mandate more associated with an urban land bank than a university foundation.