Melinda Church

Senior Vice President, Philanthropy

Melinda Church offers Jarrard clients deep experience in philanthropy visioning, strategy development, planning and proposition writing of all kinds. With expertise in healthcare and science, she partners with clients to help them earn substantial, sustained investment.

Church has more than three decades of work in philanthropy, building comprehensive, successful approaches to funders across the donor cycle. She is proficient in working with clinicians, leaders, staff, donors and boards on campaign conception and messaging, skill-building workshops and coaching, team reviews and donor stewardship.

Church joined the firm in 2025, after providing philanthropy communications strategy and counsel to nearly 150 clients around the world. She led the Strategic Communications practice at the philanthropy consultancy Grenzebach Glier and Associates for several years before founding her own firm. Over the years, her clients have included top-ranked children’s hospitals, academic medical centers, schools of public health and cancer centers.

Earlier in her career, Church served in senior communications roles in higher education during multi-billion-dollar campaigns. She was vice president for University Communications at The Ohio State University, where she oversaw all marketing, communications and public relations functions, including advancement. She also served in executive and philanthropy communications roles at University of Chicago, University of Virginia and Washington and Lee University. She has taught writing and edited academic, business and general-audience publications.

Church earned a master’s degree in journalism – with a specialty in science and health writing – from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in English with a creative writing emphasis from the University of Washington.

Worth Knowing:

1. Cannot sleep on a plane, no matter what
2. Meditation, work outs and embroidery to tame her whirling brain
3. Would rather be outside