Katherine Katcher

Strategy · Systems Change · Community-Centered Design

“All flourishing is mutual.” — Robin Wall Kimmerer

Katherine Katcher is a strategist, advocate, and capital builder. For more than twenty years, the throughline of her work has remained the same: helping communities build the power, relationships, and resources needed to shape their own futures.

Through Meridian Collective, she helps funders, nonprofits, and community leaders translate ambitious ideas into lasting institutions and strategies—designing funding approaches, building philanthropic vehicles, and aligning capital with long-term community priorities. That perspective informs both her advisory work and the initiatives she leads.

Outside of Meridian Collective, Katherine is the Director of the Thriving Communities Fund, a national fund deploying patient, recoverable capital to communities advancing shared ownership and land stewardship. She also advises DAF Commons, a national network helping Donor Advised Funds mobilize more capital for community priorities; co-founded the Collective Climate Justice Fund, a multi-donor fund investing in climate infrastructure for communities most impacted by climate change; serves on the board and investment committee of the California Wellness Foundation; and was a 2024–2025 Just Economy Institute Fellow.

Before turning her focus to philanthropy and capital strategy, Katherine spent two decades helping to build organizations and advancing community-led solutions to some of the country's most pressing social challenges. She led capital mobilization at the Ownership Capital Lab to build the ownership economy, served as Justice Policy Lead for the Yurok Tribe to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, and founded Root & Rebound, a nationally recognized criminal justice organization restoring power and opportunity to people and families harmed by mass incarceration. Her earliest work in adult education, immigrant rights, and domestic violence advocacy continues to shape how she approaches leadership, partnership, and systems change.

Katherine earned a B.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University and a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law. Katherine lives in Berkeley with her husband, three children, an ancient cat, and an enthusiastic young dog. Outside of work, she enjoys gathering around a table with family and friends, hiking California trails, traveling, and wandering through East Bay hills and gardens. She believes the places where people gather, belong, and care for one another are worth investing in—a conviction that continues to shape both her life and her work.