UniHealth Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The UniHealth Foundation supports public health and the related areas of mental health and housing in Southern California. It also supports education and career development for the health care workforce.
IP TAKE: According to a recent Chairman’s Statement, the UniHealth Foundation “exists for the sole purpose of listening to, supporting, and strengthening those who rise to the challenges of improving the health and well-being of our diverse communities in California.” This funder prioritizes large, collaborative projects in specific geographic areas within SoCal. It also collaborates with some of its grantee partners on research and evaluation that address local health needs and emerging issues.
This is a transparent funder with a straightforward application process. Prospective grantseekers may contact staff members directly; their email addresses are provided on the foundation’s team page. Submit a letter of inquiry at any time, but be prepared to wait a few months for a response.
PROFILE: Established in 1998, the UniHealth Foundation was created out of the mergers of several health-care providers, including Health West Foundation, the Lutheran Hospital Society of Southern California and Catholic Healthcare West. Its mission is “to support and facilitate activities that significantly improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities.” The foundation names focus areas relating to Population & Community Health, Healthcare Delivery Systems and Healthcare Workforce. In addition to public health, however, grantmaking funds initiatives for mental health, supportive housing and education related to health professions. The foundation names areas of geographic priority in Southern California including Long Beach and Orange County, San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valley, the San Gabriel Valley and Westside and Downtown Los Angeles. To a lesser extent, the foundation makes grants to organizations operating in other parts of the state of California.
Grants for Public Health, Diseases, Mental Health and Housing
The UniHealth Foundation’s public health grantmaking works broadly to improve health care deliver and outcomes in the communities in serves, and includes initiatives for supportive housing, mental health and other community health supports.
The Population and Community Health grantmaking area targets community health needs, wellness programs and preventative care. The program extends this work beyond typical health care settings and initiatives and names four specific goals for its giving.
Grants support programs that provide opportunity for “people to engage in positive health behaviors and make informed decisions” regarding their own health care.
Grantmaking also works to “[a]lleviate the social and economic circumstances that can prevent people from reaching and maintaining positive health outcomes.”
The foundation articulates a strong commitment to engage in “strategies and partnerships across community sectors – such as public health, industry, academia, health services, and local government entities — to address health disparities.”
Grants may also work generally to “reduce the impact of disease by fostering healthy environments.”
One recent grantee of the Population and Community Health program provided multi-year support to A Community of Friends, which provides supportive housing and “on-site services” to people struggling with addiction and mental health disorders. Another grant went to the Herald Christian Health Center association of clinics, which supports “low income and underserved” people in the Los Angeles area with holistic health and dental care services. Other grantees of this program include Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services, Cancer Support Community of the Greater San Gabriel Valley and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California.
Grantmaking for Healthcare Delivery Systems focuses on collaborations “between people, institutions, and resources, resulting in cost-effective, patient-centered, high-quality care.” The program prioritizes programs that:
Improve the “capacity and financial stability of nonprofit hospitals and healthcare organizations”;
Broadly expand access to high quality, coordinated health and mental health care;
Improve both health outcomes and patients’ satisfaction with care;
“Streamline operations for value and risk-based reimbursements”; and
Engage novel “technology, data, and scientific advances to improve care and outcomes.”
One grant stemming from this program went to the Riverside University Health System Foundation, which used funding for its Festival of Trees fundraiser for “vital pediatric programs and life-saving equipment.” The Community Health Initiative of Orange County received support for steering a collaboration that produced the Orange County Health Improvement Plan 2020-2022, which identified “barriers to accessing health care and social services.” Other grantees of this program include Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, Wellnest and the Center for Family Health and Education.
Grants for Education, Work and Opportunity
UniHealth’s Healthcare Workforce grantmaking aims to develop “a new generation” of health care professionals who will be “ ready to meet the growing demand for providers and multi-disciplinary teams” and “deliver coordinated care across the continuum.” Goals of this giving include:
Increasing the size and diversity of the health care workforce to meet increasing demand and “evolving needs”;
Support for “medical practitioners working in underserved communities”;
Research and evaluation on “factors impacting industry workforce development as a whole”; and
Training and retaining medical professionals with high levels of cultural competency.
Grants from this program support a range of educational and career development programs. Grantees include Azusa Pacific University’s School of Nursing, the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and Hope Builders, which received funding for a program “to place 500+ disconnected young adults in healthcare jobs.”
Important Grant Details:
UniHealth grants range from $25,000 to $450,000.
While this is predominantly a health care funder, grantmaking supports related areas of mental health, housing and education for medical professions.
The foundation’s grantmaking focuses on specific geographical areas in Southern California and, to a lesser extent, the state of California.
Unihealth prioritizes collaborations and projects that expand and improve health care access with an eye to emerging issues and future needs.
This funder accepts letters of inquiry via its online application portal at any time and generally responds within four months of receipt.
Some applicants will be invited to submit full proposals. The foundation usually takes about six months to review the application, “ask questions regarding the project, and gather further information.”
UniHealth provides guidelines and a detailed FAQ about its application process.
Submit general inquiries to staff members whose email addresses are available on the foundation’s team page. The foundation’s phone number is (213) 630-6500.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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