Kansas United Methodist Health Philanthropy in Action
In 1986, the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist Church established the Health Fund with a portion of the proceeds of the sale of Wesley Hospital in Wichita. The Health Fund works with all of its resources to fulfill its mission of Healthy Kansans through strategic and cooperative philanthropy guided by Christian principles.
The Health Fund serves the State of Kansas with special emphasis on the western two-thirds of the state.
In its first sixteen years of existence, Health Fund grants helped establish a wide spectrum of health-related programs--medical care for the uninsured, hospice services in both rural and urban settings, intergenerational services, quality early education, mentoring for children and youth, a statewide telepsychiatry network, congregational health ministries and prevention measures to improve oral health.
From its beginnings with a $30 million endowment, the Health Fund has made grants totaling over $47 million to improve the health, healing, and wholeness of Kansans.
In 2006, the Health Fund completed a strategic planning process that involved hundreds of Kansans in meetings, focus groups, and interviews. We asked about health issues of importance in our state and in local communities. We asked about the role of the Health Fund and how our grant funding could have the most impact on the Health of Kansans. With this information, Health Fund trustees analyzed each proposed area of focus and agreed on the goals of the Health Fund through 2009 in the following three areas:
We hope you'll take some time to learn more about our goals and our current efforts to improve health through these strategic focus areas. In addition to the detailed approaches outlined in the Health Fund's strategic plan, the Health Fund will remain open to external ideas to help achieve its goals and engage new partners. In 2007, Innovation Funding was developed to establish a new funding opportunity to provide resources for the best ideas Kansas organizations have for improving oral health, healthy lifestyles, and access to health care in Kansas. The Innovation Funding program has been renewed for 2008.