Crossnore Receives $5 Million pledge toward Comprehensive Campaign. $750,000 Matching Gift from Reynolds American Foundation.
WINSTON-SALEM, NC (May 8, 2024)—Crossnore Communities for Children has received a $5 million anonymous pledge—the largest gift in the organization’s more than 110-year history. The gift will go toward Crossnore’s $41 million comprehensive campaign to expand and enhance where children served by the organization live, learn, and heal and will be specifically used for a trauma-informed charter school in Winston-Salem.
The $5 million gift requires Crossnore to secure an additional $3 million in matching funds for its charter school. The matching gifts must be made with a minimum of $500,000 or more per individual commitment (multiple year commitments are acceptable). The first matching gift to Crossnore has been made by the Reynolds American Foundation, which has pledged $750,000 toward the charter school over the next three years.
“The Foundation has a legacy of supporting the communities where our employees work and live. We are committed to delivering meaningful change through focused giving,” Reynolds American Foundation President Mary Elizabeth T. Barwick said. “Our aim is to create thriving communities by partnering with organizations driven by impact.”
Crossnore’s $41 million campaign—called The Promise of Home—is the organization’s first campaign as a multi-campus organization and will provide support for its locations in Winston-Salem, Avery County, Hendersonville, and soon, the ability to provide services to the Metrolina Region. With the gift from the Reynolds American Foundation, Crossnore must raise $2.25 million in additional matching funds to secure the $5 million anonymous pledge.
“Crossnore is profoundly grateful to the anonymous donor and to the Reynolds American Foundation for recognizing the impact that our charter school will have on the Winston-Salem community,” Crossnore Chief Executive Officer Brett A. Loftis, JD said. “While we celebrate this historic milestone for Crossnore, there is still much work to be done to secure the remaining matching requirement in order for us to receive the $5 million gift.
“The Promise of Home campaign will help enable Crossnore to fully deliver on our historic mission to serve the critical needs of North Carolina’s children and families,” Loftis added. “Funds generated by the campaign will go toward investing in three overarching priorities: where we serve children, how we transform lives, and the administrative gears that keep Crossnore moving and impactful for children.”
Charles O. Izard of Charlotte and Katheryn Northington of Winston-Salem are serving as co-chairs of The Promise of Home campaign. Izard is past-treasurer and Northington is past-chair and secretary of Crossnore’s board of trustees. Including the most recent gifts, Crossnore is positioned to meet its goal and complete The Promise of Home campaign by fall 2024.
“Our Promise of Home campaign is laser-focused on the future of vulnerable children across North Carolina,” campaign co-chair Katheryn Northington said. “We are overjoyed by the recent visionary commitments from the anonymous donor and the Reynolds American Foundation that will go toward the charter school on our Winston-Salem campus, which serves children from our broader community.”
“For more than 100 years, Crossnore Communities for Children has provided a sanctuary of hope and healing for children as we help rebuild their faith in home,” Northington said. “For North Carolina’s children, going out into the world is only fun and exciting when the promise of returning home is solid and secure. Crossnore is taking on urgent and complex work for North Carolina’s children – both the children we serve directly and the systems that impact all of our children. We continue to seek not only matching fund contributors but pledges of all amounts, large and small, for The Promise of Home campaign.”
The target date to open Crossnore’s charter school in a renovated existing building on its Winston-Salem campus is August 2025 for kindergarten through fourth grade. Middle school building renovations will likely begin the following year, with plans to achieve full capacity in kindergarten through eighth grade by August 2028.
The Promise of Home campaign has three main components that constitute its $41 million goal:
- Fundamental Building ($12.75 million): for renovation, new construction, and re-purposing of buildings and other physical properties of Crossnore in Winston-Salem, Avery County, and Hendersonville.
- Power to Programs ($8.75 million): toward expansion and bolstering of Crossnore’s programs and services. In doing so, Crossnore will have enhanced ability to protect and heal more children and connect more creatively with community organizations, businesses, churches, and schools.
- Everyday Essentials ($19.5 million): for sustaining and strengthening Crossnore’s everyday systems and operations through investments in donor engagement, scholarships, technology, safety, transportation, and diversity.
About Crossnore Communities for Children For more than 100 years, Crossnore has been one of the most trusted names in child safety, protection, and welfare as a provider of holistic care, hope, and healing for children who have experienced trauma. Our promise to all children and families is to value and accept them wholly and to devote our exceptional resources to their needs. No organization is better positioned than Crossnore Communities for Children to give vulnerable families a broad-based ecosystem of support. For more information about Crossnore Communities for Children, please visit crossnore.org.
