The Leon Levine Foundation, the private foundation started in 1980 by Family Dollar founder Leon Levine and his wife Sandra Levine, announced in July the beginning of a “bold new chapter.”
Before his death in 2023, Leon Levine made significant contributions to the foundation focused on supporting North and South Carolinians through healthcare, education, human services, and Jewish values. Those gifts helped the institution nearly triple its assets to $2 billion over the past two years. TLLF is now the second-largest private foundation in North Carolina, one of the top 10 in the Southeast region, and among the 75 largest in the country, according to the organization.
In turn, TLLF has ramped up its grantmaking. The foundation awarded a record $101 million in grants during its 2025 fiscal year (some funds will be distributed periodically in the coming years) to more than 400 grantees, bringing its total awarded to $590 million since its establishment.
Levine, who opened the first Family Dollar in Charlotte in 1959 with $3,000 of his own money and $3,000 from a partner, also left an explicit instruction. Unlike many other foundations and endowments that have at least the aspiration to exist in perpetuity, TLLF was to intentionally spend down all its assets and ultimately cease operations within the next 50 years.
Tom Lawrence, the president, CEO, and board member of TLLF, who first joined the Levines’ family office in 2002, is responsible for making that wish a reality.
“He gave us this amazing gift; the gift of resources, the gift of opportunity, and the gift of his legacy,” Lawrence said in an interview with Modus about Levine. “That's where we are today, really pulling forward and celebrating his legacy with urgency and how we work in the mission areas that were so important to him.”
With more resources and the spend-down goal in mind, the foundation is sharpening its focus and expanding its board and team. Beyond the foundation’s required minimum distributions, the institution is better positioned to pursue one-off, outsized funding opportunities when they arise. There are always gaps between needs and funding available. The goal of strategic awards will be to create self-sufficiency for the beneficiaries.
TLLF has also embraced what Lawrence described as a unified approach to operations. In addition to its grantmaking, the foundation has begun researching and evaluating all its investments to maximize the mission-aligned impact of its investment portfolio.
The foundation, Lawrence said, has spent years studying what impact investing means to the organization and now defines it as “non-concessionary market returns on a risk-adjusted basis with an intentional and measurable social return across four aligned investment verticals [of] healthcare access, education, technology, economic mobility, and affordable housing.”
“We're looking for those managers who are aligned with what we are trying to do from a social perspective, but also have a proven track record of investment returns. And so it'll take us several years to get to that point of full investment, but we're dedicated to doing that and our board and investment committee are highly supportive of the path,” Lawrence said.
Integrating grants and investments to address problems can unlock opportunities that might otherwise be infeasible. Among others, two pressing, related needs in the Carolinas are behavioral healthcare, a broad term encompassing the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, as well as stress-related physical symptoms, and affordable housing. TLLF awarded a strategic grant to launch several proven healthcare initiatives together as a pilot program, which could then be scaled across the community.
Meanwhile, the foundation partnered with asset managers capable of investing in naturally occurring affordable housing that will be available to community members. “Not only are we able to earn a return, but we're able to ensure that those units retain their affordability for years or decades to come,” Lawrence said.
"For the folks we are in service to, it's a difficult, challenging time. And I think that the lessons that Leon Levine taught us through business and investing, and as we pull those forward into the foundation and our strategic grant making and impact investing, are critically important,” he added.
Just don’t call it a sunsetting.
“We're not just going to increase spending from 5 percent to 10 percent and just give it all away," Lawerence said. "There's nothing wrong with that. But what Mr. Levine wanted to make sure was that we were going to create permanency with those assets to the extent it took him 50 years to create the legacy. Now, we have 50 years to create a permanent impact. We actually call it a sunrise instead of a sunset, because creating that permanency of impact will be part of the outcome.”
A v2 of the Modus Family Office Technology Map just went live.
I only had time to make a few updates before this newsletter went out. Thank you to literally dozens of people who messaged about the idea and offered all kinds of helpful suggestions. If it didn't happen in v2, it will in v3!
As I explained last week, this map is not a directory or review of these companies, and companies do not pay to be included. It is a visualization of the software and services family offices use — a helpful snapshot for offices, consultants and investors. I expect to make many additions and changes to it, and I will strive to make it as helpful as possible.
A significant v3 will (hopefully) drop this weekend. I'll mention updates to the map as they occur in this weekly newsletter and on the Modus LinkedIn.
More News
- Goldman Sachs Targets Richest Families in Australia Expansion.
- Citi hired law firm Paul Weiss to investigate complaints against Andy Sieg, the head of the bank’s wealth division, Bloomberg reported this week. The investigation is complete and the bank has not commented about the outcome of the probe.
- Dave Schaeffer, the founder of Cogent Communications and owner of a property empire in Washington D.C., had $82 million of securities seized by JPM and RBC that he pledged as collateral. “I had a stable portfolio that was consistently appreciating. And then when Covid hit, the portfolio began to depreciate. The DOGE overhang, and the additional pressure that put on the entire market, turned the D.C. market from one of the best into one of the worst markets nationally,” Schaeffer said. The RE portfolio has lost $600 million of its $1.1 billion value over the past three years, he said.
- Decades of research suggest that packing a team with too much genius can backfire.
- The True Cost of Firing a CEO.
- Shari Redstone, the 71-year-old daughter of the billionaire Sumner Redstone, spoke at length for the first time about Paramount’s sale. The TLDR version: The life of a media mogul and controlling shareholder proved far less glamorous and satisfying than public perception might suggest.
- Priscilla Presley’s former business partners are suing her for $50 million amid litigation related to Elvis Presley’s estate and Graceland.
- GQ says the coming Netflix series “House of Guinness” is a combination of “Succession” and “Peaky Blinders,” which is like television catnip in the Thrasher apartment.
- This essay is a good reminder that people were the same ~2,000 years ago: “When we read Cicero’s protests or New York magazine’s briefing on the Hamptons’ most fashionable topics of scandal and complaint, we shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking this is true masochism. There are few things human nature finds more gratifying or more bonding than gossip and common grievance. A little summer outrage is and ever was part of the point. It satisfies and entertains, signals you’re in the know, marks you out as a principled connoisseur and binds you closer to the people you’ll need, socially and politically, back in the city. After all, what does overcrowding matter when you have a private beach?”
Jobs
- Hunter, Keith Industries Inc., a family office in Wayzata, Minnesota, is hiring a controller. “This is a unique chance to work directly with one family, play a hands-on role in their financial affairs, and grow into broader leadership responsibilities in investment management and strategic planning,” the posting says.
- Archway, the private-equity-owned accounting and portfolio reporting software company that recently named a new CEO, is hiring a fund accountant, a marketing manager and a sales director. Archway President Megan Greer says she wants people “passionate about building, optimizing, and making an impact.”
Other Stuff
- If you're new here and wondering: Modus newsletters always have original reporting and are searchable.
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- Know a family office doing something truly unique or interesting? About a software or service provider for sale? High-profile personnel changes? Modus covers all of those things. But what’s a good news tip? Documentation and other things. You can reply to this email and share information with me in confidence, or message me on Signal using a personal device that is not accessible by your employer.
I'll be in...
- NYC for the last bit of summer.
- Los Angeles September 7-9 for Future Proof and meetings. Numerous people over the years have told me I seem very "West Coast" (whatever that means). I like visiting, but I'm #NYC4life.
- Chicago in October for a family-office conference. Let's meet up when I'm there!
