Catalyzing innovation and accelerating change.
What We Do
Through grants, impact investments, original programs and field building, Phillips Foundation seeks to leverage its assets to maximize social, environmental and financial value.
Invest
We fund promising initiatives and scale proven solutions through generational grantmaking and impact investments.
Incubate
We incubate original programs and early-stage concepts to address gaps in the social impact ecosystem.
Activate
Using a field-building approach, we activate partnerships, resources, and infrastructure to drive systemic change.
Our Approach
Field Building
Our approach begins with assessing the landscape of a particular issue, followed by identifying the most effective ways to strengthen a field to support systems-level change.
Catalytic Capital
By offering creative financing to fund proof-of-concept work, we help promising ideas prove themselves, attract additional resources, and scale their impact.
Our Leadership
Kevin Phillips
Trustee and Chairman
Keith Phillips
Trustee
Kat Phillips
Trustee
Elizabeth Carlock Phillips
Executive Director
Erica Hall Shields
Managing Director
Bert Davis
Chief Investment Officer
Rosie Bernal
Chief of Staff
Kate Knight
Sr. Director of Impact Investing Programs
Kate Kirk
Director of Finance and Accounting
Todd Latiolais
Director of Child Safeguarding Programs
Lindsey Jordan
Strategic Consultant, Child Safeguarding Lab
Allison Bradley
Executive Assistant
Emma Goff
Program and Operations Coordinator
Catherine Karam
Director of Communications
Our History, Our Future
Building on a legacy of ingenuity and intentionality.
Phillips Foundation was endowed by the late Kermit G. Phillips II, an entrepreneur from Greensboro, North Carolina, who brought creativity and long-term thinking to both business and philanthropy.
In 2002, he established the Kermit G. Phillips II Charitable Trust to formalize his family’s giving and initially supported a handful of education, healthcare, faith-based, and cultural organizations.
In 2013, the trust rebranded as the Phillips Foundation and launched its generational grantmaking strategy, field-building work and impact investing practice. Today, the Foundation drives innovation and scales solutions through its Invest, Incubate and Activate pillars.