The Winston-Salem Foundation

The Winston-Salem Foundation

The Winston-Salem Foundation was established in 1919 and has operated for more than a century as a community foundation focused on Forsyth County. Led by President LaTida Smith since 2021, the organization pools donor-advised, scholarship, and endowment funds to direct philanthropic capital toward local initiatives. It is the oldest foundation in North Carolina and one of the earliest community foundations in the United States. The foundation's deployment model rests on grantmaking across asset classes including education, affordable housing, and community development. Rather than direct venture investments or fund commitments, the institution operates through donor-advised giving and targeted local initiatives. Its balance sheet includes direct commercial real estate holdings in Winston-Salem: a mixed-use property called Metropolitan Village in the East End, a separate commercial real estate LLC, and its headquarters at 751 West 4th Street. Geographically, activity is bounded by Forsyth County, with no disclosed investments outside the region. The organization is governed by a board chaired by Peggy Reingold, with investment oversight from a committee that includes David Barksdale (CEO of Piedmont Federal Bank), Alex Barrett (an advisor at Truist Wealth), and Keith Vest (chairman of The Variable). Truist Financial Corporation administers a charitable fund through the foundation. The Winston-Salem Foundation holds membership in the Council on Foundations, where it is accredited under the National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations, and participates in the Asset Funders Network. Structurally, the foundation is distinguished by its identity as the legacy carrier for multiple philanthropic circles within a single county. It anchors several targeted funds—the Black Philanthropy Initiative, the Women's Fund, and the Millennium Fund—each channeling donations into discrete community agendas. This architecture creates a hub-and-spoke model where charitable capital is aggregated under a single fiduciary umbrella, then deployed through distinct, community-branded vehicles that share the foundation's administrative core.