Kaiser Permanente Community Fund

2013 Call for Letters of Inquiry

Health begins where we live, work, learn and play - long before any clinical intervention is required to treat disease or injury.  Since 2005, the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund at Northwest Health Foundation has supported community-driven efforts to address factors in the social, policy, and physical environment that impact community health.  The Fund has supported initiatives that have improved a diverse range of community conditions, including public safety, educational attainment, access to healthy food, and safe, affordable housing.  Often referred to as the social determinants of health, these factors have been shown to play a major role in determining a community’s health status.

The Kaiser Permanente Community Fund is committed to promoting health equity and social justice by supporting efforts that take a preventive or “upstream” approach to improving community health.  Health equity is achieved when everyone has the opportunity to attain their full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of their social position or other socially determined circumstance. 

This year the KPCF Advisors have chosen to focus on three social determinants of health in 2013 (not listed in order of significance): 
1. Healthy Beginnings and Early Childhood Development
2. Educational Attainment
3. Economic Opportunity

These priorities build on current community momentum, are supported by a strong base of evidence, and present substantial opportunities for long-term impacts on community health.  For a description of each of these priorities and a full explanation of how and why they were selected, please read the “Vision for a Healthy Region” document here” Vision for a Healthy Region

If your organization is working in the KPCF funding region, and you have initiated or are planning to launch an initiative to improve community health and equity via one or more of our funding priorities, we invite you to submit a letter of inquiry.

We will be offering grants within two separate tracks:

• Capacity-Building Grants are more appropriate for organizations that need time to develop their partnerships and strategies; are building their expertise in the field; are not yet able to clearly articulate how their work would improve community health and equity; and/or need to engage with their community to develop their goals, strategies and tactics.  Capacity-Building grants range up to $50,000 for up to 18 months.
• Implementation Grants represent the types of projects that are more fully conceived (and in most cases, have already been launched).  Implementation grants are more appropriate for organizations (usually multi-sectoral collaborations of several organizations) that are ready to implement a defined plan of action, with a clear expectation of goals and outcomes.  Implementation grants range up to $200,000 for up to three years.

Improving health and equity by addressing social determinants usually requires a commitment to changing the systemic, policy, economic and/or environmental factors that have contributed to poor community health status, and are often led by the communities most impacted.  Initiatives designed to affect change at the systemic level are a stronger match for the Fund’s strategies than those that work primarily at the individual level.

A more detailed explanation of each track, our three focus areas, and other information that will help you craft a compelling letter of inquiry is provided in our Frequently Asked Questions. 2013 FAQ

Eligibility

The Northwest Health Foundation manages all of its grant programs within an online platform.  If you determine that a match exists between your project idea and the KPCF funding priorities, first please search by ZIP code to determine if your project will improve health in the KPCF funding region.  Use the search tool below to determine if your project falls within the KPCF funding region.

Enter the 5-digit ZIP code for your project:

If your search reveals a match and you intend to submit a proposal, it is essential that you indicate your intent to apply by 4:00 p.m. May 30, 2013.  You can register your intent to apply at this link: http://grants.nwhf.org/intent/index.php.  Submitting your intent to apply only takes a few minutes, and does not require you to define your project title, ask amount, or write a narrative. 

Once we verify that your organization meets the eligibility requirements, an email will be sent to the lead project contact with a link to the online grant application, along with a username and password, for submitting your letter of inquiry.  Please allow up to two business days to receive these instructions.  Letters of inquiry are due by 4:00 p.m. on June 6.

If your organization is invited to submit a full proposal, the Foundation will provide detailed information about what to include in your application and the deadline.  In most cases, a Program Officer will try to schedule a site visit.