About NWHF

Guiding Principles

In order to truly fulfill our mission, we believe that certain societal conditions must be promoted. These are framed as our guiding principles:

• Health is more than health care.  Health is a state of physical, mental, spiritual  and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
• Power and resources should be organized to optimize health for all.
• Deliberate strategies are required in order to effectively overcome health inequities.
• Population-based approaches are essential for improving the public’s health.
• All people should have equal access to a basic level of quality health care.
• Promoting upstream, systemic change through advocacy is often the most effective strategy for improving community health.

How We Operate

• We are values-driven. Transparency, credibility and accountability are essential elements of the Foundation’s commitment to community. The manner in which staff, board and advisory committee members work together at Northwest Health Foundation is central to our impact.
• We are community-driven. The Foundation’s role is to identify, nurture and support community efforts that have demonstrated effectiveness as well as emerging and innovative approaches to expand our community’s capacity to optimize health.
• We are strategic. The Foundation makes conscious choices to focus our grantmaking, community-building, and advocacy in areas for which we have identified opportunities for change. Our strategic process weighs evidence, opportunity, timeliness, need, and impact.  We re-examine our strategies on an ongoing basis in order to remain flexible and agile in responding to changing or unforeseen circumstances.
• We address root causes.  The Foundation challenges ourselves and others to address health disparities. In doing so, the Foundation is willing to move beyond the traditionally held boundaries of “health” in order to promote integrated, holistic strategies required to fulfill our mission.
• We are engaged. The Foundation’s role as a convener, capacity-builder and advocate is as important as the grants we provide.  Through the engagement of staff and board members, we seek to better identify opportunities to leverage our investments, sustain meaningful relationships and promote genuine collaboration and partnership.
• We are building a community for change. The Foundation is always looking for opportunities to support, grow and celebrate individual and collective leadership to promote community health.
• We are partners. We recognize the fact that we are only as successful as our partners. Our ability to sustain relationships and common goals beyond a single grant, issue or campaign is crucial to our role as an agent for social change.  The Foundation strives to remain accessible to all our partners in promoting health.

We are at our most effective when we provide an environment for community organizations and their members - many of whom may have divergent opinions - to come together and engage in conversation around common themes and producing strategies that will advance the common good.

The NWHF Case for Equity

We have a shared fate—as individuals within a community and communities within society.  All communities need the ability to shape their own present and future.  Equity is both the means to healthy communities and an end that benefits us all.  Equity requires the intentional examination of systemic policies and practices that, even if they have the appearance of fairness, may, in effect, serve to marginalize some and perpetuate disparities.  Working toward equity requires an understanding of historical contexts and the active investment in social structures over time to ensure that all communities can experience their vision for health. 

Priorities for our Equity Work

We believe that we will improve the health of all communities through deliberate strategies that promote equity and eliminate health inequities.   We believe that the following areas represent the greatest opportunities for Northwest Health Foundation’s efforts:

• Race/ethnicity, including immigrant and refugee identification
• Geography
• Physical, mental and developmental disability