Carla Gibson, Vice President of Programs, REACH Healthcare Foundation
Kathryn Evans, President & Founder, Rooted Strategy
The REACH Healthcare Foundation began a transformative journey in 2018 when a portfolio review revealed that Black-led, Black-serving organizations were largely excluded from the foundation’s grantmaking investments. Acknowledging this shortcoming led to the launch of the Centering Black Voices (CBV) pilot project, which captured the insights and lived experiences of Black leaders from nonprofits serving Black communities in Kansas and Missouri. Their shared experiences of limited access to funding for Black organizations helped shape REACH’s funding approach, which aims to repair previously neglected—and in some cases, damaged—relationships. REACH hopes that by sharing honest reflections on how the foundation questioned and reimagined its philanthropic practices, it can support other health funders embarking on similar efforts focused on reconciliation and repair.
A recent REACH Healthcare Foundation report, “The Broken Triangle: A Framework for Reparative Philanthropic Relationships,” examines how traditional philanthropic practices have often created imbalanced power dynamics and barriers for Black-led, Black-serving organizations, while offering a useful framework for creating more equitable and effective partnerships between funders, grantee partners, and consultants.
The paper details how REACH adapted its approach by:
- Shifting from traditional short-term, restricted funding to longer-term, flexible support;
- Moving away from top-down approaches to community-led priority setting;
- Reducing administrative burdens and barriers for grassroots organizations;
- Rethinking the role of consultants as bridge-builders between funders and grantees; and
- Creating new rapid-response funding mechanisms for urgent community needs.
At the heart of this paper is the concept of the “broken triangle”—the often-deficient relationship between philanthropic funders, grantee organizations, and consultants. This dynamic, characterized by power imbalances, limited trust, and misaligned expectations, frequently hinders the very impact philanthropy aims to achieve. REACH surfaced these challenges through honest, often uncomfortable conversations with Black nonprofit leaders and consultants, many of whom shared how capacity constraints and a lack of access to trusted expertise have long limited their organizational growth and trust in funder-identified consultants.
A central insight from this exploration was that the traditional model of philanthropy—where consultants are brought in as short-term, narrowly scoped technical experts—often reinforces these inequities rather than resolving them. To address this, REACH launched the Core Consultants program in 2023, a capacity-building initiative designed specifically to serve Black-led, Black-serving nonprofits within the foundation’s service areas in Kansas and Missouri. The program recognizes that meaningful support requires time and trust—something short-term engagements often fail to deliver.
Through this reimagined model, consultants are seen not only as technical assistance providers but as essential stabilizing partners who help build infrastructure, amplify impact, and expand funding opportunities for under-resourced organizations. By intentionally recruiting local, culturally matched consultants and embedding them over time, REACH began to observe shifts in power dynamics, relationship quality, and ultimately, organizational effectiveness.
The paper outlines this journey, offering lessons learned and actionable practices rooted in reparative philanthropy. While the focus is on Black-led organizations, the implications are broader: any funder seeking to repair past harms and center community leadership can learn from this work. REACH invites fellow foundations to reflect on their own practices and to consider how deeper, more equitable investments in people, relationships, and capacity can transform outcomes across the sector.
As philanthropic organizations navigate growing political pushback and recent actions aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the philanthropic sector is challenged to reaffirm its commitment to racial equity and social justice. This paper offers a candid examination of how traditional philanthropic practices have fallen short, as well as a practical, evidence-based framework for reimagining those practices. REACH shares this work not only as a reflection of its own learning but also as a timely resource for funders striving to remain accountable, equitable, and effective in advancing justice during intensified scrutiny and resistance.