R.I. Foundation receives record $28M gift

FROM LEFT to right, the Wilcox family. Clara Wilcox (Frederick Wilcox’s wife), Suzy (their granddaughter), Nancy (their daughter and Suzy’s mom) and Frederick Wilcox. The estate of Frederick Wilcox left $28 million to the Rhode Island Foundation, the largest, unrestricted gift in its history. / COURTESY TED MATTIS
FROM LEFT to right, the Wilcox family. Clara Wilcox (Frederick Wilcox’s wife), Suzy (their granddaughter), Nancy (their daughter and Suzy’s mom) and Frederick Wilcox. The estate of Frederick Wilcox left $28 million to the Rhode Island Foundation, the largest, unrestricted gift in its history. / COURTESY TED MATTIS

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Foundation President Neil D. Steinberg said he was “overwhelmed” when he learned the foundation received a $28 million donation – the largest, single unrestricted gift in its 100-year history.

The gift came from the estate of the late Frederick B. Wilcox, a Providence banker. And while he died in 1965, his will said the foundation would be the primary beneficiary of his $1 million estate after his daughter Nancy Mattis’ passing.

Under Nancy’s stewardship, the estate grew to $48 million. The will specified that 60 percent of whatever the estate had grown to after her passing would be given to the Rhode Island Foundation. After Nancy’s death late last year, the foundation received the gift, Steinberg said. He said the foundation knew it would be coming at some point, but did not know many details, such as the timing or amount.

When the foundation finally received it, Steinberg said he was amazed, not only at the amount, but that Frederick Wilcox had the “foresight and confidence in the foundation” to give it an unrestricted gift.

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Wilcox, Steinberg said, “is a role model for philanthropy.”

“Here we are 50 years later,” Steinberg said. “What’s so exciting is that we’re still here and can leverage these dollars.”

Steinberg said on Wednesday that because the gift is unrestricted, it will be added to the foundation’s endowment, allowing it to continue to grow and generate income to support its annual grant-making. The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in the state.

He said there are no specific plans for the money beyond using it to support strategic sectors, such as education, health care and economic security, and make grants for arts and culture, basic human needs, children and families, environment, health and housing.

“We will be able to do more now,” Steinberg said. “The entire community across the board will benefit from this. This gives us a lot of flexibility … to address the issues of the day.”

Steinberg praised the generosity of the family, who he said “did a wonderful job of growing this.”

Steinberg said the money is part of nearly $60 million in new gifts that the Rhode Island Foundation received last year. That was the second-highest amount in the foundation’s history.

Nancy’s son, Ted Mattis, said in a statement that through his grandfather’s “insightful planning and my mother’s prudent stewardship, my grandfather will be helping to take care of community needs for generations to come.”

“She greatly enhanced her father’s legacy,” he said.

Mattis was 9 years old when his grandfather died, and knew about him mostly through family stories. He said his grandfather left school at a young age, worked as a bookkeeper at the old Sheppard’s department store in Providence and “went from there.” Wilcox became a partner with Bodell & Co., private-investment bankers in Providence, and was president and chairman of the former Phenix National Bank, which became part of what is now Bank of America.

“My mother quoted him nearly every day of her life. She was her father’s daughter,” Mattis said.

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