Mother Cabrini Health Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation supports the health and well-being of vulnerable populations and diverse communities in New York State via its grantmaking for health care, mental health, basic needs and special populations.
IP TAKE: The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is “the largest foundation focused exclusively on healthcare across New York State.” While it is a vital source of grants for hundreds of health and mental health organizations serving some of New York’s most vulnerable people, this funder maintains “the ethical principles, tenets, and teachings of the Roman Catholic faith.” Catholic organizations number significantly among its grantees, and reproductive choice and LGBTQ causes are notably absent from its long rosters of grants.
The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation accepts letters of inquiry each year in May and invites full proposals shortly thereafter. This is an accessible funder with deep pockets, so if its Catholic underpinnings are compatible with your organization, this may be a strong source of support.
PROFILE: Established in 2018, the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is a health legacy foundation based in New York City. It was created through the $3.75 billion sale of a nonprofit entity, Fidelis Care, to a for-profit company, Centene Corporation. The Foundation is rooted in Catholic traditions and named after Sister Frances Xavier Cabrini, an advocate for children and immigrants who died in 1917 at the age of 67 and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint in 1946. The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s mission is “to provide grants to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable New Yorkers, bolster the health outcomes of diverse communities, eliminate barriers to care, and bridge gaps in health services.” All of this funder’s work is conducted in accordance with “the ethical principles, tenets, and teachings of the Roman Catholic faith.”
The foundation’s funding programs are Access to Healthcare, Basic Needs, Healthcare Workforce, Mental and Behavioral Health and General Fund and Eight Populations, which supports “projects that do not fit within our Programs but that advance the health and well-being of our eight priority populations.” Cabrini’s eight priority populations are:
Funding is limited to the state of New York. It is worth noting that this funder’s programs change frequently; grantseekers should check program pages frequently for updated opportunities.
Grants for Public Health and Access
Public health is the Cabrini Foundation’s largest giving area and is supported via the foundation’s Access to Healthcare and Healthcare Workforce initiatives.
Access to Healthcare is the Cabrini Foundation’s largest giving area. Grantmaking supports “programs that advance comprehensive access to healthcare, especially for low-income and vulnerable populations.” Areas of specific focus include affordability of care, “physical accessibility” of care, improving the capacity of existing systems and improvement in the cultural and linguistic competence of care providers.
Past grantees include the Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, New York City’s Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center, the Richmond Medical Center of Staten Island and Catholic Health Services of Long Island, which received funding for a reproductive health and education program.
Grants stemming from the foundation’s Healthcare Workforce program broadly supports “the development of a skilled and diverse healthcare workforce.” Grants target “a variety of stakeholders” in New York’s health infrastructure, including hospital systems, medical schools, continuing education providers, medical professional associations and community health organizations. The foundation also names four priorities for its giving:
The recruitment of “talented healthcare workers” to meet the healthcare needs of all New Yorkers;
High quality medical education and training programs, including programs that improve “completion of programs by addressing social and economic barriers”;
Strategies for retaining high quality medical professionals, especially initiatives concerned with “burnout” and “barriers” to opportunity and advancement; and
“Equity and diversity” for New York’s health workforce, including diverse leadership and the promotion of “culturally and linguistically appropriate care, toward greater health equity.”
Grantees of the workforce program include the Health Professions Hub at D’Youville College, a program to “retrain foreign-trained medical professionals” at LeMoyne College in Syracuse and the Center for Medical Innovation and Technology at Daemen College in Amherst, New York.
Grants for Mental Health
The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s grantmaking program for Mental and Behavioral Health situates mental health as an “essential” component of overall health and acknowledges that “behavioral health needs are particularly acute in historically marginalized communities and for populations that have been adversely affected by socioeconomic inequities.”
The foundation articulates three strategies for its mental health funding. In addition to direct mental and behavioral health services, grants support mental health access, capacity building, preventative interventions and public awareness programs.
The foundation has demonstrated a strong interest in supporting programs that coordinate behavioral health with “other health and social services.”
Grants have gone to organizations including the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged, Good Shephard Services for Foster Youth, Catholic Charities Mental Health Services of Brooklyn and Mental Health Providers of Western Queens, which received funding for its services for immigrants.
Grants for Housing, Food Systems, and Economic Development
Cabrini’s Basic Needs grantmaking program aims to help meet the basic needs of underserved and low-income people “so New Yorkers can build healthy lives.” Areas of focus for this program include food security, affordable and safe housing, economic opportunity and supporting people’s access to vital benefits and services like SNAP, WIC, childcare and more.
Grants have gone to a broad range of organizations including Catholic Charities’ Feeding Our Neighbors Program, the Food Bank for New York City, New York City’s Institute for Community Living and college preparation and vocational skills training at Lincoln Hall, a community organization in Lincolndale, New York.
Grants for Immigrants, Veterans, Women and Girls, Youth Development, Racial Justice and Criminal Justice Reform
The Cabrini Health Foundation does not run specific grantmaking programs for vulnerable populations, but it does make grants to support the “eight populations” named as priorities in its General Fund.
Grants have supported initiatives for health, mental health and basic needs and stem from all four of the foundation’s grantmaking areas.
One grantee, New York City’s ArchCare Community Services, used funding to provide “family governed housing for young adults with autism.” Another grant funded legal services for immigrants provided by Catholic Charities of New York Cities.
Other grantees include the Veterans Outreach Center of Rochester, Women in Need of New York City, Long Island Against Domestic Violence and the Hispanic Resource Center of Larchmont.
Important Grant Details:
Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s grants range from $5,000 to over $1 million.
Funding is limited to New York State.
A significant portion of funding goes to Catholic organizations, although other faith-based organizations and non-religious organizations also receive grants.
Many grantees receive multi-year support.
This funder’s priorities are relatively stable in the areas of health, mental health, basic needs and vulnerable populations.
For additional information about past grants, see the foundation’s recent tax filings or its Grantee Spotlights page.
The foundation accepts letters of interest from grantseekers in May, and invites full proposals from selected applicants in June, with a proposal due date in July. Award announcements are made from October through December. See the foundation’s Guidelines and FAQ for additional information.
Direct general questions to the staff at info@cabrinihealth.org or by phone at 646-980-3001. Grantseekers may also sign up for the newsletter to be notified of new grantmaking opportunities.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
