Vermont Health Foundation
The Fletcher Allen Community Health Foundation / Vermont Health Foundation
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The mission of the Vermont Health Foundation is to be a catalyst for community health improvement. |
History of the Foundation
When the Mary Fletcher and DeGoesbriand Hospitals merged in 1983 to form the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont (MCHV), many people feared this new, larger organization might become remote from the pulse of the community. They were also concerned that government regulation would play an increasing role in determining how charges for medical services might be set.
The Vermont Health Foundation (VHF) was created to function in a "holding company" capacity not only for MCHV, but also for other non-profit and for-profit organizations. In 1984, the Visiting Nurse Association came under the VHF umbrella. The VHF approved budgets and board appointment for MCHV and the VNA, and created a for-profit subsidiary, Vermont Health Ventures, that owned the Health Center Pharmacy and half of Starr Farm Nursing Center. It also served as the repository for funds donated in support of MCHV.
When Fletcher Allen Health Care came into being in 1995, the VHF's role changed as it became one of the four parent organizations of Fletcher Allen. In that regard, it nominates four people to the Fletcher Allen board of trustees and must approve by-law or mission statement changes for that organization. Fletcher Allen took responsibility for its own fund-raising.
Upon the creation of Fletcher Allen, the VHF was left with ca. $10 million in endowed funds. Its board created a granting process to provide money to community-based efforts intended to improve community health. In four years, it provided over $1 million to a wide variety of projects ranging from those existing entirely outside any clinical setting (e.g. a family fitness effort managed by the YMCA at the Boys and Girls Club) to those with clinical connections (e.g. several efforts aimed at reducing the incidence of adult-onset Type 2 diabetes).
At a board retreat in early 2000, the VHF board agreed that it wanted its community investments to increase public awareness of similar efforts by Fletcher Allen. It also thought that its experience as a board of community-based volunteers granting funds to organizations outside the clinical setting might be helpful to Fletcher Allen. No less importantly, it believed that closer cooperation with Fletcher Allen would bring clinical and other scientific expertise to its own decision making.
In late 2000, the VHF and Fletcher Allen signed a Memorandum of Understanding that created the Fletcher Allen Community Health Foundation. In late 2006, both parties signed an updated MOU. The MOU calls for a blending of dollars and of both volunteer and clinical expertise to more effectively achieve better community health with a further goal that, over time, this will lead to better clinical outcomes. Work under the MOU guides investments via a traditional grants-making process as well as by funding proposals solicited to help achieve outcomes identified by the new foundation.
The Grant Process
For grant guidelines and application forms, click here. Please note - information and applications are being updated at this time. For further information, contact the Foundation at the phone number below.
Contact Information
For more information on VHF and the FACHF, contact Penrose Jackson at 802-847-3445 or via Email at Penrose.Jackson@vtmednet.org.
Vermont Health Foundation
Fletcher Allen Community Health Foundation
Community Health Improvement
199 Main Street - Suite 150
Burlington, VT 05401
