What We Fund

Strategic focus areas

To maximize impact with available resources, for 2010-2012 the Health Fund is targeting the following three areas for funding:

Grants are awarded to health care projects proposed by eligible organizations to respond to needs and build on assets of local, regional, and state situations. These grants generally have one or more of the following purposes:

• Develop new or expanded, sustainable program resources to provide quality services
• Change the delivery system to meet demands, improve access/quality, or reduce cost
• Test innovative ideas for improved service delivery
• Offer public education for improvement of individual and community health care
• Provide group opportunities for health care providers to improve critical skills
• Develop technical expertise, collaborations, and similar supports for improvement and change in health care service delivery and education

Grant guidelines

The general rules applicable to all grant decisions are as follows:

• Recipients.
  • Grants are not awarded to individuals or for individual medical, dental, or other personal care treatment.
  • Grants can be awarded only to 501(c)(3) organizations or governmental entities, except upon special approval of the Board of Trustees and approval of legal counsel.
  • Contracts for services may be approved with for-profit groups for reasonable compensation.
• Kansas only.
  • Grants shall be made only for support of projects which provide services or benefits to persons or organizations in the State of Kansas.
  • The Health Fund does not fund projects in foreign nations or other U.S. states.
• No uninvited/unauthorized applications or proposals.
  • The Health Fund will reject without consideration any proposals or applications which were not authorized or invited in advance by a Health Fund program officer. We encourage organizations to call or email us with any questions or ideas for possible funding.
• Kansas West preference.
  • The Health Fund has a preference for grants doing work within the boundaries of the Kansas West United Methodist Conference*.
  • The Health Fund will particularly seek opportunities for grants in that region and will require, as reasonably possible, location of events and fair allocation of project work within that region when there is a project of statewide reach.
• United Methodist partnerships.
  • The Health Fund seeks to utilize partnerships with local churches, agencies, institutions and Kansas judicatory structures in fulfilling its work. From time to time, the Health Fund will target opportunities for program work to those United Methodist groups, including some preference in RFPs and similar grantmaking programs for United Methodist relationships.
  • Preference does not mean that a project proposal of poor quality by a United Methodist group will be approved but may mean that some approaches such as set-asides and targeting will be utilized to encourage participation by United Methodist groups offering equivalent quality.
• Strategic focus areas.
  • The Health Fund has focused its efforts on a select group of funding areas to achieve greater impact with limited resources. Our grants are limited to projects addressing one or more of those areas.
• Capital projects and endowments.
  • Generally, capital projects and endowments are not funded. This is particularly true when there are large capital campaigns or projects where Health Fund monies would represent a "donation" to an effort.
  • There may be cases where small capital campaigns can complete an operating project of particular strategic interest to the Health Fund and these will be considered.
• On-going operating grants.
  • The Health Fund is a "special needs" funder and generally does not provide regular operating expenses of on-going projects.
• Maximum grant term and renewals.
  • No grant shall be made for a term of longer than five years.
  • The total term (base period and renewal) may extend beyond five years.
• Indirect costs.
  • Grants may not include more than 10% for indirect costs.
• Alcohol exclusion.
  • Grants may not be used for the purchase of alcoholic beverages.

*The United Methodist Church in Kansas is organized into Kansas East and Kansas West Conferences. References to Kansas West refer to the 68 counties in the western two-thirds of the state within the West Conference; the balance of 37 counties comprises Kansas East. Groups unsure of their location within those boundaries can request assistance from the Health Fund office.