Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust

06/05/2026

We thank Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) for inviting Trust Senior Program Officers Shenell Thompson and Madison Allen to lead a session on “Sustaining the Frontlines: Reimagining Funders’ Role in Grantee Wellness."

Madison and Shenell spoke about how we are supporting grantee wellness in today's climate and shared lessons learned from the Trust's inaugural Camp Kate retreat for grassroots leaders. Through an interactive learning experience, participants used a wellness toolkit to create a hypothetical wellness plan for six different organizations.

In systems that drive constant strain, rest is not optional—it’s essential for long-term impact. When leaders are supported, both people and the movements they lead are stronger, and funders have a responsibility to help create the conditions for that support.

Learn how the Trust is piloting investments into the wellness of community partners through Camp Kate.

https://kbr.org/news/camp-kate-a-place-for-nc-leaders-to-heal/

06/04/2026

The Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOPs) connect North Carolina's Medicaid members to non-medical supports like food, housing, and transportation.

A new report finds that the HOPs reduced total health care costs for Medicaid beneficiaries an average of $164 per month.

State funding is needed to continue this successful health improvement program.

https://bit.ly/4x7s7Ry

PRESS RELEASE — North Carolina’s innovative Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) reduced health care costs by an average of $164 per month for NC Medicaid…

06/03/2026

Philanthropy is being challenged to take more risks, trust communities more deeply, and fund with greater flexibility.

By moving resources faster, backing people closest to the work, and looking beyond short-term grants to longer-term support, we can increase our impact.

Philanthropy Must Choose Courage Over Caution https://bit.ly/4wkbl1b

Abigail Disney and Carolina García Jayaram argue that funders can be a stabilizing force in a time of civic uncertainty.

06/02/2026

“That article showed what was a real-life experience that I’ve experienced all my life. Now, I was able to directly connect statistics and structures that show how the systems that are created end up making this a reality for people like myself.”

Hear how neighbors are reacting to a powerful reminder that life expectancy can look very different depending on where you live, highlighting the local realities behind health inequity and the people working to understand it.

Story by Aaleah McConnell, photos by Day Camposeco

06/01/2026

We join communities across the country in honoring the life and legacy of civil rights leader Dr. Clarence B. Jones. Dr. Jones was famously credited as a contributor to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream" speech while serving as his advisor and legal counsel.

In 2015, The Communications Network hosted a conversation between Dr. Jones and renowned journalist Jonathan Capehart. Dr. Jones offered powerful reflections that reinforce the centrality of racial injustice in positive social change efforts and apply the wisdom of the civil rights movement to today's context.

Listen to the podcast of the keynote, read the transcript, or take a look at the illustrated notes: https://www.comnetwork.org/insights/clarencebjones/Dr. Cl...

05/28/2026

For many years, Financial Pathways of the Piedmont has helped residents prepare for and achieve the dream of home ownership.

We commend their dedicated staff and the leadership of Executive Director and Trust Local Impact Advisory Council Member Phyllis Caldwell-George as they work to support economic resilience and growth in our community.

Triad group helps people become homeowners | FOX8 WGHP

Financial Pathways of the Piedmont is an agency that helps families plan ahead to become homeowners by providing financial counseling, coaching, and education, as well as assistance with down payme…

05/27/2026

Pisgah Legal Services provides free legal assistance and advocacy to help people in Western North Carolina access services including health care and housing.

Learn more about why they are valuable partners to the Trust and how they are helping people navigate North Carolina’s complex Medicaid and public benefits system.

https://bit.ly/49TFj2m

A nonprofit law firm is helping people navigate North Carolina’s complex Medicaid and public benefits system.

05/26/2026

Philanthropic evaluation is evolving, and the real opportunity is to make it more useful, more inclusive, and more connected.

By investing in diverse talent, stronger peer networks, and shared tools that help both funders and evaluators do better work together, we can deepen our impact and shape the field.

See the research that is pushing funders to move beyond evaluation as a compliance exercise and toward evaluation as a driver of learning and improvement.

https://bit.ly/49ySyFF

For more than a year, foundations have been forced to grapple with significant shifts that continue to impact themselves and their grantee partners, including major declines in federal funding streams and data infrastructure, heightened levels of risk associated with equity-focused work, and more. T...

05/22/2026

Medicaid expansion in North Carolina has helped hundreds of thousands—but it hasn’t solved the underlying need for a durable safety net.

In Guilford County, the Orange Card program is a stopgap for uninsured residents who fall through the cracks, and is sustained by donated time, volunteer clinicians, and patchwork funding.

Keeping North Carolinians connected to care over time means building safety‑net infrastructure that can adapt to shifting policies and enrollment changes.

Inside Guilford County's health care safety net for the uninsured | NC Health News https://bit.ly/4d2B2vT

Officials with the county's "Orange Card" program expect more people will need help next year once Medicaid work requirements kick in.

05/21/2026

North Carolina’s Medicaid compromise keeps funding flowing but at a steep human cost—slashing provider rates and creating barriers that could deny care to vulnerable families.

Patients, especially kids and low-income communities, will face longer waits, fewer options, and higher out-of-pocket burdens.

NC’s new Medicaid ‘compromise’ comes at a cruel and frightful cost • NC Newsline https://bit.ly/4dcMCDp

The new law establishes cruel roadblocks to health coverage that will relegate thousands of North Carolinians who had gained it thanks to the state’s long overdue 2023 expansion of Medicaid, back to relying upon hospital emergency rooms for basic care.