2009 Update

Please see the current "Think of the Possibilities Funding" RFP here.

Innovation Funding grants will not be offered this year.  The program was made available in 2007 and 2008 as a way to gather some of the best ideas for impacting our three health focus issues in Kansas—oral health, access to healthcare, and healthy lifestyles.  We received 162 applications and awarded 33 Innovation Funding grants.  Our total investment in these grants was $1.4 million. 

This is an exciting time for the Health Fund and a time of transition.  In 2009, we are evaluating the three focus areas of our funding since 2003 and also planning for the best way to use our resources to advance health, healing, and wholeness in the future. 

Many Kansans have already participated in discussion groups or interviews on health issues and offered ideas on how the Health Fund might improve health outcomes in Kansas. Information is being gathered and evaluated by our Board of Trustees.  A decision is expected at the end of the year on the Health Fund’s focus for 2010 through at least 2012. 

History

Seeking new opportunities to improve the health of Kansans in the three areas of focus beyond the specific goals identified in its strategic plan, the Health Fund established Innovation Funding in 2007 and again offered this grant opportunity in 2008. Innovation Funding was designed to attract and support new approaches to oral health, access to health care, and healthy lifestyles in Kansas.

Applicant-initiated proposals relating to the Health Fund's focus on access to health care, healthy lifestyles, and oral health were invited. Projects under Innovation Funding were to address one or more of these three areas, but needed not be limited by the goals, objectives, and strategies already identified by the Health Fund's strategic plan. Projects could involve direct service delivery (treatment and prevention), advocacy, public health education, awareness, or other approaches. Innovation Funding was intended to support projects generating action beyond the routine and aiming at specific outcomes delivering:

• Creative and innovative approaches to addressing needs at state, regional, or local levels;
• Partnerships to address these issues with new strategies; and
• New mechanisms to put evidence-based solutions in place.