The History of the Fund

"TO ADVANCE HEALTH, HEALING AND WHOLENESS"

Inception

In 1984, the trustees of Wesley Medical Center, Wichita, decided to sell the assets of that hospital to Hospital Corporation of America. Wesley Medical Center was founded by a predecessor conference of the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist Church and maintained a covenant relationship with the Kansas West Conference. Controversy developed inside the Church about the sale and included the potential of litigation in the absence of formal consent of the Kansas West Conference to the transaction.

At a Special Session of the Conference held on Feb. 1, 1985, the Conference accepted a recommendation from its Wesley Strategy Task Force to accede to the sale in exchange for $30 million of the sale proceeds to be used by the Conference for its own health care mission (with accumulated income the Fund eventually received $32.6 million). The balance of the proceeds (approximately $220 million in total) went to the Wesley Endowment Foundation which eventually became the Kansas Health Foundation. That Special Session authorized Bishop Kenneth Hicks to appoint a taskforce to develop a proposal about the structure of an entity to receive and manage those funds and to authorize guidelines for making grants. In May 1986, the taskforce reported to the Annual Conference recommending establishment of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund and confirmation of twenty-two trustees. The Conference agreed.

Articles of Incorporation, as approved by the Conference, were filed on June 4, 1986. The twenty-two trustees met for the first time in June 1986. This charter group of trustees met at least monthly during the first year. The first officers were Rev. Janet Sevier, Wichita, Chairperson, and Virginia Starkweather, Clay Center, Secretary. The Board decided to locate the office in Hutchinson. Staff was hired--initially a President and an Administrative Assistant. The grantmaking process was operational by early 1987 with an open, competitive procedure featuring two steps: a preliminary application (formal inquiry about interest) and a full proposal for those projects where there was significant interest meriting preparation of detailed information. The Board organized Grants, Finance and Investment and Executive Committees. The Grants Committee's function has remained constant since formation. It determines interest based upon the submitted preliminary applications and provides recommendations to the Board about funding based upon the submitted proposal, staff work and peer reviews. This Committee of eight to twelve trustees has had only two chairpersons: Ardith Alexander, Hutchinson (1986 - 1997) and Sharon Hixson, Colby/Garden City (1997 - ).

The detailed organization of the investment function was given to the Finance and Investment Committee. After several presentations by outside resource people, the Committee recommended and the Board approved working with E.F. Hutton, Wichita, in development of investment objectives and an investment policy. The Board approved a detailed investment policy in March 1987 and E.F. Hutton was hired as the Investment Advisor. The investment structure that has persevered through fifteen years of turbulent (and rewarding) market conditions is 1) Finance and Investment Committee, 2) Investment Manager-now Salomon Smith Barney (successor to E.F. Hutton), and 3) three (originally) to seven (2001) separate money managers investing in different asset classes. Bob Gordon, Salina, served as the first Committee Chairperson until his death in 1993. Richard Martin, Newton, served as Chairperson from 1993 - 1997 and was succeeded by David Galliart, Winfield (1998 - ).

In March 1987, the Fund office opened and Kim Moore, a Wichita attorney, became the first President. Linda Gronewaller joined the staff in July as the Administrative Assistant and was to be a valued employee for thirteen years. In July 1987, $20 million in principal and $2,581,765 in accumulated interest were transferred to the Fund pursuant to the agreement. In October of 1987, the stock market experienced a sharp decline which adversely affected the Fund=s just completed investment in stocks and bonds with three balanced money managers.

About one year after the initial Board meeting, the Fund announced its first five grants. The first funding policy was adopted which established the interest of the Fund in Court Appointed Special Advocate programs. This approach of adopting a funding policy defining the type of funding available for a set of similar or identical programs became a common feature of Fund work. This first policy also indicated that the definition of "health" to be employed by the Fund would encompass physical, social, and mental health. The first set of grants included funding for United Methodist Urban Ministry, Wichita, to re-locate and expand its health clinic and for United Methodist Western Kansas Mexican-American Ministries, Garden City, to start-up a medical program in southwest Kansas. These two programs providing primary care access for thousands of persons with limited resources continued to receive operating grants for more than ten years, and, in addition, special needs and service expansions of the two agencies have been underwritten by the Fund.

1988

Janet Sevier Gilbreath, the first Chairperson of the Fund, died. Janet was District Superintendent of the Winfield District at the time of her death. The Fund Board of Trustees honored her with the establishment of the Janet Sevier Gilbreath Project Recognition Award. This award goes annually to a single project demonstrating the qualities of effective and sustainable Christian service which Janet had worked for in establishing the Fund. Dr. Dirk Hutchinson, Winfield, became Board Chairperson and would serve in this capacity for eight years. Three listening/learning events were held that year in Scott City, Salina and Wichita to gain an understanding of health care needs and expectations for the Fund. These events involved dozens of United Methodists in presentations and dialogue and the results were summarized by staff and shared with the Board of Trustees. The final $10,000,000 from the sale proceeds was transferred to the Fund, and assets totaled $33,027,748 by the end of 1988 (full recovery from the 1987 losses).

1989

Following a Board Retreat in 1989, the Fund announced an Intergenerational Programming Initiative, providing for preference in its competitive grantmaking program for grants which brought young and old together in meaningful service. This Initiative spawned the Kansas Intergenerational Network which continued to nurture successful intergenerational programs in Kansas for twelve years. By the end of 1989, the Fund had awarded more than $3 million in grants. The office moved from rented space in downtown Hutchinson to its own newly-renovated office building at 1803 Landon.

1990

In early 1990, the Fund again held listening /learning events in Wichita, Scott City and Salina. A request for support for health insurance premiums of retired Kansas West United Methodist ministers was a major controversy for the Trustees. The Trustees determined this was an employee benefit issue for the Annual Conference and turned down the request as outside the mission of the Fund. This decision would be affirmed on two later occasions. Work began on a Hospice Initiative with the Fund sponsoring a Kansas hospice group to visit Kentucky and learn how that state had developed statewide hospice coverage. The Initiative's goal was to spread quality hospice services to every Kansas county and to encourage certification of hospice programs for Medicare reimbursement which could sustain and expand local programs with a more dependable revenue base.

1991

In 1991, an on-going, internal issue concerning the geographic reach of the ministry of the Fund-only in Kansas or beyond--was reviewed by a special Board taskforce for the first time. The first Board policy required a Kansas connection to any out-of-state project which would enhance Kansas United Methodist mission efforts. An exception allowed funding for projects of the Board of Global Ministries working in Mexico or the Caribbean on primary health care issues. This issue would be revisited several times until 1997 when the Board limited grantmaking to Kansas projects and provided grant support to both Kansas East and West Volunteer In Mission programs. In late 1991, the Fund prepared to target its work in the broad field of children's health and established a Children's Health Initiative Taskforce chaired by Joe Mackey, Wichita, and composed of trustees and non-trustees to determine a strategic direction within this general field.

The Fund also commissioned development of a four-week Sunday School lesson series "Access to Health Care in Kansas." More than 70 Kansas churches used the series.

1992

The Hospice Initiative had lagged in 1991 but, with a 1992 grant of $305,000 to Association of Kansas Hospices, the effort to bring hospice service to all Kansans moved forward rapidly. For the first time, a special renewal grant program was organized for grant projects which were producing good outcomes, working toward long term sustainability and yet needing some additional Fund support to achieve long-term financial success. Eight expiring grants were included in this first special renewal program. Since that first renewal program, the Trustees have frequently considered grant renewals in this combined manner.

1993

The Fund made a grant to Kansas Action for Children to work with the Kansas Legislature in an effort to improve outcomes for Kansas children, called the A Blueprint for Investing in the Future of Kansas Children and Families". The Children's Health Initiative Taskforce's final recommendation was that the Fund give priority to projects which furthered the Blueprint and anticipated additional work with the private/public entity, Corporation for Change, formed to make this Blueprint a statewide agenda. The Trustees adopted this recommendation and pledged fifty percent of Fund grantmaking toward this basic strategy. This work consumed much staff effort over the next several years including direct staff support for the Reno County Planning Council for Children and Families. Although there were many individual community and program successes, state-level political issues and traditional agency turf issues prevented the Corporation for Change and its implementing partners from achieving long-term improvements in children's services.

Joining with other public and private funders, the Fund made a $200,000 commitment to the Caring Program for Children organized by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas with support of the Kansas Medical Society and Kansas Hospital Association. That program provided free health insurance to eligible low-income children across Kansas. The Fund became the manager of Caring Program funds and continued its support of this effort until the program closed in 1998, with the advent of HealthWave (federally-funded health insurance for children of modest income families). During its existence, the Caring Program's insurance paid for almost 100,000 services for just under 13,000 children. In late 1992, the Fund moved toward more outcomes accountability in its funded projects. An evaluation consultant was hired to work with selected grantees in adopting client-centered outcomes. A small publication on evaluation was developed for grantees.

In October, the Fund received the National Hospice Organization's Champion of Hospice Award. The Hospice Initiative, through the leadership of the Association of Kansas Hospices, had assisted programs around Kansas in regionalizing and becoming Medicare certified. Virtually all parts of Kansas now had Medicare hospice services. Trustees became interested in the one-stop shopping concept of service delivery, particularly for families with children. Staff and Trustees conducted site visits in and out of state to learn about how this idea could be promoted. Although the Fund encouraged grants using these concepts, little external interest ever developed. The Board, continuing its holistic understanding of health, decided that child care programs could qualify for funding and adopted a policy supporting childcare needs-start-up and expansion of programs serving low income children, development of sick childcare, competitive quality improvement grants and statewide system enhancements. Childcare work became a major funding interest of the Fund for the next four or five years.

1994

In February, the first Parish Nurse Conference in Kansas, led by Saint Paul School of Theology, was held in Salina, with financial resources and encouragement of the Fund. This exposure event was the first introduction of many Kansans to this particular type of congregational ministry and was the catalyst for many persons becoming parish nurses. Inside the Fund, this activity began a long-term commitment to more intentional work in stimulating congregational health and wellness ministries. The first round of Quality Improvement in Childcare program grants was approved. These grants permitted existing childcare programs to gain support for needed enhancements which would affect the quality of their services. During four years of this program, eighty-seven grants were made throughout the Kansas West Conference area. Cumulative grantmaking (since inception) reached $10,000,000 by the end of 1994.

1995

Throughout the first decade 1986-1996, many Fund grants supported volunteer action programs-CASA, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, intergenerational mentoring, and Compeer. Compeer is a program matching persons having persistent and severe mental illness with other community persons for a friendship relationship. A special Compeer Funding Policy adopted in 1995 targeted support for these programs and a limited pilot program related to case management reimbursement for Kansas Compeer programs was instituted. The National Compeer Program awarded the Fund its Harold and Joan Feinbloom Award for the Fund's financial support of Compeer in Kansas. 1995 marked the first "turn-over" year for charter trustees; in 1995, 1996, and 1997, classes of charter trustees maxed-out in service due to term limits and were replaced-seventeen new trustees were recruited as replacements during these years. Altogether the 22 charter trustees provided 185 years of service-an incredible record of dedication.

1996

The new congregational health focus continued to develop in 1996 with the implementation of the Healthy Congregation Awards program. This program recognizes United Methodist congregations in both Kansas West and East which demonstrate commitment to health outreach, education and support activities. Congregations file reports and, if criteria are met, receive a health resource (First Aid kit, curriculum materials, medical resource books, etc). Congregations in each of three size categories receive $1000 recognition awards for exemplary health activities. A new Healthy Congregations Advisory Committee was formed with trustees and non-trustee members throughout Kansas to guide this new program. This Tenth Anniversary Year ended with assets climbing over $50 million. To develop new strategies, a Program Initiatives Committee, chaired by Rev. Karen Osterman Fieser, Norwich, was appointed with trustee and non-trustee membership; this group played a decisive role in setting the agenda for the next several years. Rev. Alan Lindal, Derby, became the third Board Chairperson in 1996.

1997

Although the Fund's program had grown substantially since 1987, the staff had remained at two persons with occasional additional help such as summer graduate interns. In 1997, the Fund hired its first Program Officer, Virginia Elliott. Virginia joined a staff which now managed 125-150 current grants and processed, with Board approval, 75-90 new grant projects each year. To facilitate the application process, the Board moved to a one-step application process for grants $20,000 and under. The expanded staff permitted orientation/training events to occur with new grantees at regular intervals.

1998

The first recommendation from the Program Initiatives Committee led to the establishment of a small employer health insurance purchasing cooperative. After a feasibility study, two full Board hearings and consultation with groups on all sides of the health insurance spectrum, a grant was made to Alliance Employee Health Access, the corporate vehicle established to implement the health insurance purchasing concept. The effort, which extended through 2001, to provide employee choice, group purchasing, central premium bid processing and quality information to employers and employees did not succeed long term, primarily due to a very competitive small employer market where dominant insurers were acquiring market share and incurring sizeable losses. Alliance programs were established in three regions and 1000 persons were insured, but the effort did not achieve sustainable levels of operation. The idea of reform of the small employer market moved in 2000-2002 away from the Fund's private approach to a State of Kansas business health partnership.

Another Program Initiative effort in support of the new federal children's health insurance program was more successful. An advocates meeting, supported by the Fund, in early 1998 brought 200 people who became informed and engaged in the early effort to secure Kansas participation in the program and good enrollment. A Fund seed money grant to Kansas Children's Service League helped a coalition secure a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant of $800,000 for the Kansas Covering Kids program which motivated and sustained for several years private enrollment efforts for the Kansas HealthWave program. United Methodist Western Kansas Mexican-American Ministries was active in this enrollment effort with part of the RWJF funding.

The third Program Initiative Committee idea was a broad-based initiative in oral health. Significant study and conversation over a nine-month period preceded the launch of the effort as Healthy Teeth for Kansans in October 1998. The first phase, with a $1.25 million commitment, encompassed a study of Medicaid access to dental services; community-based sealant projects for high risk, low-income children; and start-up grants for community water fluoridation. The water fluoridation part of Healthy Teeth for Kansans was the most controversial action of the Fund during its first 15 years. Although there is strong majority support for water fluoridation in most surveys, a strident minority is very active in opposition. That group is skilled at organizing opposition in referendums and before governing bodies. In the third year of the Initiative, additional funding of $1.5 million was committed for what the staff and trustees understood would be a long-term (five to seven year) involvement in oral health. By the end of 2001, the Initiative had provided water fluoridation start-up support of $366,000 to nine communities with a total population of 95,000; sealants to almost 8,000 Kansas children through 48 community projects costing $510,000; and disseminated information on oral health through numerous conferences and studies. Additional actions involving strategies such as fluoride varnish, early childhood provider education and pilot programs called ABCD (Access to Baby and Child Dentistry) to enhance Medicaid access for very young children were beginning by the end of 2001. Supporting the Initiative is a special Oral Health Initiative Advisory Committee composed of dental health professionals, governmental officials, trustees and interested persons.

Frustration with the consistent mangling of the five word name-United Methodist Health Ministry Fund-led the trustees in mid-1998 to seek approval of the Kansas West Conference to a formal name change to Wesley Health Fund. While affirming the work of the Fund, members of the Conference refused to approve any change by a substantial vote. A Board Retreat held late that same year produced a three-year strategic plan (later extended through 2002) with work to be focused on the following areas: access to primary care (including oral health), congregational ministries of health and wellness, health ethics, child care and a special curriculum project in the field of social and spiritual determinants of health.

1998 also marked the first time a program forwarded by the Fund to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was accepted for funding in its Local Funding Partners Initiatives grant program. This matching grant program produced external support of $300,000 for Higher Ground, a program of Tiyospaye, Wichita, serving adolescents with comprehensive drug and alcohol treatment services.

1999

By 1999 the Fund's assets had grown to $67.5 million and its programming budget was set at $3.1 million. Long-term employee Linda Gronewaller resigned and was replaced by Kristine Dean as Administrative Assistant/Accounting. Because so many Fund grantees are start-up and small organizations, the Fund worked with the Kansas Nonprofit Association to organize a management/leadership series of workshops for its grantees, United Methodist organizations and churches and other interested nonprofits. This series of four workshops each year offered in three or four separate locations reached hundreds of nonprofits during 1999 -2001. A fourth full-time staff member, Jeff Gamber, Program Associate, joined the Fund.

2000

The turn of the century opened with the good news that another Fund-sponsored application had been accepted by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for its Local Initiative Funding Partners program. This time the grant of $300,000 went to United Methodist Western Kansas Mexican-American Ministries to start a dental clinic/oral health program. Work began in earnest on the development of an adult study curriculum, suitable for use in Sunday School settings, about social and spiritual determinants of health. A special advisory committee was formed and project direction was funded through the KU School of Social Welfare with Dr. Ed Canda as the project director. By early 2002, the project was moving its first module to pilot testing.

The Trustees approved a new grant program called Cooperating Funders which matches local funders' (such as community foundations) commitments to projects in areas of particular interest to the Fund (oral health, primary care access, congregational health and wellness, health ethics, etc). Responding to an opportunity presented by Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Sedgwick County, the Fund developed a policy of support for starting-up this key mentoring program throughout Kansas. By the end of 2001, the Fund had committed $1.1 million to twenty-two new BBBS programs in counties which previously lacked this mentoring service.

After a Board self-assessment process, several key internal reorganization steps were approved by Trustees, including a gradual reduction in Board membership. The Trustees also approved a new affiliation with the Kansas Area United Methodist Foundation. This affiliation includes co-location, sharing of staff, sharing of equipment and other resources and development of an active philanthropy outreach program including donor-advised funds and giving clubs. Implementation of this affiliation really began in September 2001 with the hiring of Rick Johnson as Stewardship Program Officer working for both foundations in delivering services to Kansas United Methodist Churches. The affiliation will be further solidified with the move of both organizations into a newly remodeled facility at 100 E. First in Hutchinson in May 2002.

2001

Randy Peterson, Salina, became the fourth chairperson of the Fund in March 2001, succeeding Rev. Alan Lindal, Wichita. By the end of 2001, following the events of September 11th and a two-year bear market, the investment fund was approximately $60,000,000 down from a high at the end of 1999 of $73 million.

Fifteen Year Perspective

The 15th Anniversary of the Fund was June 4, 2001. The Trustees decided to have a year-long process related to that 15th Anniversary. In addition to special events at Annual Conference, the Trustees approved 1) a special grant program supporting speakers at statewide association meetings on the Future of Health Care, 2) a review of key Fund initiatives during the first 15 years led by Jon and Myrne Roe, well-known Kansas journalists, 3) an art contest, Visions of Health, for Kansas high school and university students, and 4) various special events. A program review prepared by Fund staff of the first 15 years of operation provided the following statistical summary:

* Total amount awarded $27,784,953

* Average grant amount $ 31,360

* Total number of grants 886

* Five largest categories of awards by fields of work

Indigent medical care $ 5,191,332
Child Care $ 2,793,357
Youth Services $ 2,212,550
Dental Services $ 1,825,873
Hospice/End of Life $ 1,427,214

* Five largest categories of type of support

Program Expansion $ 8,917,438
Start-up $ 8,384,090
Public Education $ 3,404,773
Capacity Building $ 3,284,573
Special Events $ 1,549,728

* Organizations Receiving Support (top five by amount)

UM Health Clinic (and Urban Ministries Clinic) $ 1,686,371
UM Western Kansas Mexican- American Ministries $ 1,598,400
Association of Kansas Hospices $ 775,762
Kansas Action for Children $ 593,162
Mental Health Consortium $ 550,000

Kim Moore, President of the Fund, summarized the findings from that fifteen-year Program Review:

"The results confirm to me that the Health Ministry Fund remains true to its original preferences of serving the western two-thirds of Kansas, encouraging health ministries by United Methodist groups, targeting fields of work where there are opportunities to better the status of underserved and unserved persons and focusing on the human work to be done instead of institutional goals. The Review points to new issues to be considered such as more use of strategic grantmaking, greater investment in key organizations working in areas of interest, and improved accountability measures at the foundation and project level.

"What the Program Review does not reflect is the needed attribution of UMHMF success to the key constituencies it has enjoyed-committed and skilled trustees; supportive (and occasionally critical) friends in Kansas United Methodism; resources of local churches, agencies and institutions; individuals and agencies outside United Methodism serving as advisors in formal capacities on advisory groups and taskforces and in informal settings; and especially the funded partners of UMHMF who do the real work."

January 31, 2002