Our History

The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati is an independent 501(c)(4) social welfare organization dedicated to improving community health. The foundation awards grants to non-profit and governmental agencies for programs and activities that improve health in Cincinnati and 20 surrounding counties in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. When the foundation sold its HMO to Humana, Inc. in 1997, the foundation received $221 million to invest in health programs in this community. Today, the foundation operates from investments of nearly $200 million, awarding about $9 million in grants and direct charitable activities annually.

Our Grant Making Interests

In late 1997, the foundation conducted an extensive assessment of the health issues and health care needs of the people in our region. As a result of those findings, the foundation refined its strategic focus and now concentrates most of its efforts and grantmaking on four areas of concern:

• Community Primary Care
• School-Aged Children's Healthcare
• Substance Use Disorders
• Severe Mental Illness

To a large extent, the foundation takes a pro-active role to initiate grants by issuing Requests for Proposals in these four focus areas, although the foundation does award some grants in response to requests from organizations seeking funds. In some cases, the foundation invests in projects that fall outside of these four areas. These other health-related grants play an important role in our efforts to improve the health status of the Greater Cincinnati area.

Making the Most of Our Impact

While we believe that the foundation's grant dollars can make a real difference in improving health and health care in our region, the foundation can make an even bigger difference if it leverages its funds and resources. In addition to strategically funding health care projects, the foundation:

• Plays key roles as advisor and partner. Our staff builds close relationships with grantees and potential grant recipients, providing technical assistance for grant applications, program development and project evaluation.
• Brings together people and organizations to work collaboratively for solutions and to reduce duplication in both funding and health services.
• Designs evaluation strategies that measure changes in community health outcomes and optimize the learning captured from grants and programs.
• Communicates success stories so that other health professionals and organizations can implement the good ideas that come from programs that work.
• Works to improve the quality of regional health data in order to help health care providers make decisions about how to focus their energy to improve health.
• Operates programs, workshops, and conferences to make a direct, charitable impact on our community.