Five Questions With: David Jones

DAVID JONES is president and CEO of the Capital Wealth Foundation, a new philanthropic platform. / COURTESY CAPITAL WEALTH FOUNDATION
DAVID JONES is president and CEO of the Capital Wealth Foundation, a new philanthropic platform. / COURTESY CAPITAL WEALTH FOUNDATION

David Jones is president and CEO of the Capital Wealth Foundation, a new philanthropic platform. Jones, with 40 years of sales, marketing and communications, decided to get involved in philanthropy after his stage 4 cancer went into remission last year. He talks with Providence Business News about Capital Wealth Foundation, how it’s unique and what giving means to him.

PBN: What is Capital Wealth Foundation and how does it work?

JONES: The Capital Wealth Foundation has been created by Rhode Islanders to help Rhode Islanders and beyond. We are a traditional philanthropic platform that seeks traditional and nontraditional gifting and support. Our model is completely different from other foundations. We have a supporting business by the name of Capital Wealth Management.

Lee Duckworth, who is the CEO of CWM, named me president and CEO [in January]. The unique difference is that Mr. Duckworth, through his understanding of the pure nature of “giving back,” has agreed to absorb all administrative and operational costs of the foundation. We believe we are the only philanthropic model with this benefit. Every dollar given goes out, one-to-one, no overhead. Because we are so different, we did our due diligence. When most said, “That can’t be done,” we moved forward with our compliance advisers, all state and federal regulators. We are completely transparent.

PBN: Is there any specific area, or industry you focus on?

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JONES: Currently we are [in] the private funding stage. On July 1, we will open our application process for grants and scholarships. As mentioned, we will look at any opportunity. Again, we are very different. We have formed a gift committee that will evaluate all giving information.

PBN: How did you get involved with it?

JONES: I got involved in “giving back” when I was granted a new lease on life, literally. In 2010, I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon/liver cancer. After a long stay at Dana-Farber, I went back to work at [WJAR-TV] NBC 10. I needed to do better, and you will see why the word better is most important, so I pursued philanthropy. I asked Lee if I might be able to bounce the foundation idea off of him. We never have looked back.

PBN: How did you connect with this current group of philanthropists?

JONES: During my 17 years at [WJAR-TV] NBC 10, I got to be known in the advertising market by many of my clients as someone that they could trust, but more importantly I was a good listener. Some of those clients remain personal friends today. Did I make mistakes in the course of transaction business? Of course I did. However, I would approach those bumps in the road with directness and honesty, and said it would not happen again.

PBN: What’s the plan to make the foundation grow?

JONES: Our foundation growth is also different. We have a general or a “sustaining fund,” but, as I mentioned, we have no intention of investing funds for long-term growth. The foundation is also supported by an extraordinary board of trustees.

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