NOTE: Grant applications will be accepted online during two annual grant cycles, one in the spring and one in the fall.

Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation

In 2022, $45 million was invested in the communities we serve. The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation awards grants in four focus areas:

• Human needs grants that support increased food security, housing and shelter, and access to basic medical and health care.
• Environmental stewardship grants to protect natural resources and help non-profit organizations make efficient use of energy.
• Education grants to develop the capacity of the future workforce, especially in STEM and energy fields.
• Community vitality grants to foster an appreciation of diversity, revitalize neighborhoods and ensure a vibrant community life through support of cultural endeavors.

NOTE: Highmark prefers to have requests submitted at least 6 weeks in advance of the start of the program to allow for proper review and approvals, but will endeavor to address requests submitted with less than 6 weeks until the start of the program.

About Us

One of America's leading health insurance organizations and an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Highmark Inc. (the Health Plan) and its affiliated health plans (collectively, the Health Plans) work passionately to deliver high-quality, accessible, understandable, and affordable experiences, outcomes, and solutions to customers. Highmark Inc. and its Blue-branded affiliates proudly cover the insurance needs of approximately 7 million members in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and West Virginia. Its diversified businesses serve group customer and individual needs across the United States through dental insurance and other related businesses.

Highmark Corporate Giving

The decades-long legacy of Highmark includes direct financial support to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. Today, our corporate giving benefits hundreds of organizations across our service area.

The Highmark Bright Blue Futures charitable giving and community involvement program's goal is to ensure healthier, brighter, stronger futures for all. Our focus is improving equitable access to care, quality of life and economic resilience in the communities we serve.

Focus Areas

We aspire to improve outcomes in two critical areas: Community Health and Community Economic Resilience.

Community Health

Reducing health inequities and disparities among our targeted populations through novel solutions and strong partnerships go a long way toward reversing societal trends and lifting up those in need.

Our strategy is supported by five pillars that each play an important role in promoting the wellbeing of all:

• Access to Care
  • Highmark Bright Blue Futures strives to ensure that everyone in our communities, regardless of their location, income, or other factors, has equitable access to preventative care, disease-specific support, and health literacy programs.
• Economic Stability for Individuals and Families
  • We work to reduce the hardships that keep people from achieving financial security, such as food insecurity, housing instability, and unemployment.
• Social and Community Context
  • Our programs related to physical activity and social connections encourage individuals to improve their health and quality of life through regular physical activity, and to seek out relationships that nurture their emotional, psychological and physical wellness, and growth.
• Education Access
  • Through training and educational opportunities in healthcare and medical fields, as well as providing scholarships to higher education programs, Highmark Bright Blue Futures is dedicated to helping students gain the skills and knowledge they need to pursue and achieve their career goals.
• Neighborhood and Built Environment
  • The built environment plays a crucial role in the health and safety of communities.
  • Beyond just providing physical spaces, the built environment can be used to create programs and resources that can help to address issues that have a direct impact on the physical, mental, and emotional health of community members.

Community & Economic Resilience

Even during periods of upheaval and change, we were successful in improving economic wellbeing and quality of life in communities of all sizes.

In our efforts to support their communities and economic resilience, we:

• invested resources in moving diversity, equity and inclusion forward in a transformative way.
• provided a network of direct services to those in need.
• helped students and jobseekers prepare for success.
• improved the standards of living and fostering wellbeing.
• brought joy to and built bridges between cultures.

NOTE: The Foundation’s board of directors meets three times per year (spring, summer, and fall) to review and approve proposals.

Background

The Highmark Foundation is a private, charitable, organization of Highmark Inc. that supports initiatives and programs aimed at improving community health. The Highmark Foundation's mission is to improve the health, well-being and quality of life for individuals who reside in communities served by Highmark Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. We fulfill our mission by awarding high impact grants.

Ideally, the Foundation seeks evidence-based programs that impact multiple counties, that achieve replicable long-term models, and that attract collaborative funding by community partners.

Foundation grants have been awarded to hospitals, community health centers, health service organizations, local community groups and government agencies committed to improving community health.

Our focus is health. The Foundation awards health-related programmatic grants to charitable organizations to implement evidence-based programs aimed at improving community health within Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Grant funding is used to support projects that:

• Are consistent with the Foundation’s goals, strategies and focus
• Demonstrate new and sustainable ways to solve health problems
• Illustrate the effectiveness of early intervention and preventive health

Funding Priority Areas

The Foundation awards grants in the area of health, defining health broadly to include social, behavioral and other dimensions beyond illness or disease. The Foundation focuses its grantmaking on four areas:

Chronic Disease

For more than a decade, the Foundation has funded chronic disease intervention and prevention programs for the most vulnerable populations in the region. By analyzing data from global, national, and statewide resources, the Foundation determines where it can make significant impact among populations by reducing the burden on both patients and health care providers.

One major example of the Foundation's leadership is its funding of community-based programs and services that have been created to reduce the effects of diabetes among minority populations. Through comprehensive, multilevel strategies, the Foundation has provided millions of dollars which grant these individuals easier access to diabetes prevention programs.

The Foundation has also supported national efforts—locally. For example, the Foundation was one of the first in the nation to fund an initiative known as Mission Lifeline. This is an initiative of the American Heart Association which advances the systems of care for patients who have experienced the most severe form of heart attack.

Data analysis of other chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, certain types of cancer, asthma, and many others, are constantly being reviewed by the Foundation staff to determine significant impact opportunities with outcomes that are both measurable and achievable.

Funding Programs and Interventions that Address:

• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Cancer
• Obesity

Family Health

Family health initiatives have been at the heart of many programs funded by the Highmark Foundation.

For five years, the Foundation's Highmark Healthy High 5 initiative focused on five areas that ultimately impacted family health: physical activity, nutrition, bullying, self-esteem and grieving. Many of the programs funded were not just aimed at children, but incorporated the entire family unit.

Childhood obesity and bullying remain major public health concerns for the nation and the region, and will remain critical issues for the Foundation. To that end, the Foundation is continuing to fund school and community-based programs that directly impact these issues and bring about positive change for children's physical and mental well-being.

The Foundation also funds programs in the area of maternal health, such as the doula pregnancy programs, walk-in clinics for uninsured and underinsured women, and parenting education classes. For the region's senior population, the Foundation funds programs that provide senior access to home health or palliative care, as well as routine health screenings and interventions.

Funding Programs and Interventions that Address:

• Nutrition and Physical Activity
• Adolescent Health
• Maternal Health
• Senior Care
• Mental Health

Service Delivery Systems

Serving a diverse geographic area that encompasses urban and rural populations presents a unique set of challenges. However, despite the differences in these settings, gaining access to quality health care is a challenge for many individuals in both. In urban settings, there is a lack of health care providers, but the underinsured or uninsured often lack the resources to gain access. In rural settings, the situation is even worse. There are very few health care providers available, and those that are available may not have the capacity to serve the underinsured or uninsured populations.

During the past decade, the Foundation has funded many programs across the region to help underserved and uninsured populations gain access to quality and, in some cases, free health care. This is most evident in the area of dental care and oral health, in which the Foundation, through a series of grants, allowed more patients to gain access to quality dental care.

The Foundation has also provided grants to help organizations hire and recruit health care professionals. It has funded millions of dollars in grants to address the nursing shortage in Pennsylvania. In fact, approximately 5,000 nursing students, nurses, medical students, residents, first responders and nursing faculty have benefited from Foundation funding.

Finally, the Foundation has provided grants to organizations planning to invest in new capital and technologies that will better serve their local population. By providing funding for capital expenditures at locations such as Federally Qualified Health Clinics (FQHC), nonprofit organizations, and community hospitals, the Foundation allows these facilities the ability to serve more patients.

Funding Programs that Address:

• Access to Care
• Recruitment of Healthcare Professionals
• Community Health Clinics
• Screenings

Encova in the Community

Our associates take pride in being involved in the communities where we operate. We show our corporate caring initiative through our participation in a wide variety of community activities, and we offer opportunities for our associates to become involved through our organization’s two foundations.

Encova Foundation of West Virginia

Encova aspires to be an outstanding corporate citizen in all locations and markets we serve. Through the Encova Foundation of West Virginia and the Encova Foundation of Ohio, we support local causes that are strategically managed and mirror the values and interests of our associates, agents and policyholders. We commit to causes greater than ourselves and partner with organizations that truly transform lives.

The Encova foundations focus on improving communities and families, promoting education and encouraging wellness. Embedded in our focus is a commitment to helping children succeed, improving our communities and supporting industry initiatives.

NOTE:  The application deadline has been  extended to December 1, 2023.

About School-Based Healthcare Solutions Network (SBHSN).

Utilizing a unique framework of funding systems offered by the Department of Health and Human Services, managed care organizations, health insurers, and private donors, SBHSN promotes a system of care model (Coaching Model℠) offering a mix of evidenced-based intervention, prevention, and care coordination services to children in grades K-12. The Coaching Model aims to expand quality mental healthcare access on public school campuses and improve children's social, emotional, behavioral, family, and wellness outcomes.

School-Based Mental Health Implementation Grant

In response to the growing number of students who need mental health counseling, the School-Based Healthcare Solutions Network (SBHSN) is accepting applications from Local Education Agencies (LEA), Public and Private Universities, State and local Colleges, Charter School Management Companies, Public Schools, Charter Schools, and Non-Profit Organizations (501c3) to implement and expand mental health program services on local school campuses. Grantees will receive direct funding and reimbursement to support the following activities: 

• Expanding access to School-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
• Coordinating mental healthcare services with school administration and staff. 
• Delivering mental healthcare services and coordinating academic-support activities to students with a history of attendance, behavior, and poor academic performance.

FUNDING

5-Years, renewable based on meeting performance goals 5-year award ceiling is $5,500,000.

The Impact Fund awards recoverable grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and small law firms who seek to advance justice in the areas of civil and human rights, environmental justice, and poverty law. Since being founded in 1992, the Impact Fund has made more than 700 recoverable grants totaling more than $8 million for impact litigation. 

Social Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants and legal support to assist in human and civil rights cases. We have helped to change dozens of laws and win cases to improve the rights of thousands. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In Orange County, California there are currently 13 gang injunctions under effect, which disproportionately affect young men of color.
• In Chicago, Illinois, the city’s homeless shelter program is inaccessible to people with disabilities.
• In Springfield, Oregon, the city and its police department used excessive force during a Black Lives Matter protest.
• In Maine, the state fails to safely monitor the prescription and administration of powerful psychotropic medications to foster youth.
• In Missouri, a Medicaid agency fails to arrange for in-home nursing services for children with medically complex conditions.
• In Montana, voter suppression laws disadvantage young adults and give priority to gun owners.
• In Vancouver, British Columbia, the police perpetuate systemic discrimination against Indigenous people through bureaucratic measures.
• In West Virginia, incarcerated individuals do not receive adequate medical and mental health care, and jails do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Environmental Justice

The Impact Fund provides grants to support local litigation for environmental justice. These are often cases no one else will support. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin the proposed expansion of a highway will divide the region's Black, Asian, and Latine neighborhoods and bring pollution and ill health.
• In North Dakota, the five-month closure of a highway in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests disproportionately affected the livelihoods and health of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members.
• In Ontario, Canada, mercury contamination of the English-Wabigoon river system causes catastrophic environmental and health impacts for the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
• In Sacramento, California, the county government and Sacramento Area Sewer District violate the Clean Water Act by discharging raw sewage into the Delta, the Sacramento River, and the American River.
• In Fresno, California, the city’s efforts to streamline industrial development fail to protect vulnerable neighborhoods from adverse environmental and public health impacts.
• In the Eastern Coachella Valley in California, 1,900 residents of the Oasis Mobile Home Park suffer from arsenic-laced drinking water, wastewater contamination, and overcharging for utilities.

Economic Justice

The Impact Fund provides financial and other forms of support to cases fighting for economic justice. From workers' rights to consumer protection for vulnerable populations, impact litigation is a powerful tool to hold corporations accountable. The cases we are funding allege that:

• In San Diego, California, vehicle ordinances target homeless vehicle owners even when no adequate housing alternative exists.
• In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city and county destroy the property of homeless individuals and employ forced evictions from public spaces.
• In Miami, Florida, insurance companies discriminate against a nonprofit community development corporation renting to tenants with Section 8 rental subsidies.

Supporting Historic Sacred Places

A program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Fund for Sacred Places provides financial and technical support for community-serving historic houses of worship across America.

What We Offer

The National Fund for Sacred Places provides matching grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to congregations undertaking significant capital projects at historic houses of worship, along with wraparound services including training, technical assistance, and planning support.

What We’re Looking For

The National Fund for Sacred Places assesses applicant eligibility according to the core criteria shown below, while also striving to build a diverse participant pool that reflects a broad range of geographic, cultural, and religious identities.

Historic, Cultural, or Architectural Significance

We are looking for buildings that have historic, cultural, or architectural significance—and sites that have important and relevant stories to tell. Many of our participants are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the state register, or the local register. Your building does not have to be on one of these lists, but eligibility for one or more of these lists is a good benchmark for National Fund eligibility.

As part of the National Trust’s commitment to telling the full American story, we particularly encourage congregations to apply that illuminate a unique or overlooked aspect of American history and that expand our understanding of our shared national heritage. We encourage submissions related to historic sacred places of importance to historically and contemporaneously underrepresented communities including, but not limited to, women, immigrants, Asian Americans, Black Americans, Latinx Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and LGBTQIA communities.

Successful applicants are able to demonstrate their place in history by answering questions such as:

• Does the building tell a story relevant to our history—either cultural or religious?
• Does the history highlight previously underrecognized communities, stories, or locations?
• How has the building served the community over time? Does the building have a great physical presence in its community due to its location or programming?
• Is the building the work of a notable architect? If so, is it a high-quality example of their body of work?
• Is the building an exceptional example of its architectural style or building technology?
• Does the building embody the congregation’s resilience over time?

Community-Serving Congregations

We are looking for congregations that are engaged in their communities and that are serving others. Engaged congregations operate and host programming that serves vulnerable, at-risk, and diverse populations; share space with non-affiliated groups and organizations (often at subsidized rates); work with other congregations, faith-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and/or municipalities; and have a widespread reputation for being a welcoming center of community life.

Project Scope and Need

We fund historic preservation projects addressing urgent repair needs and/or life safety. We also fund projects that increase congregations’ ability to open their buildings to new populations or to serve greater numbers of people. All projects must adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, which is a universally accepted framework for doing work to older and historic properties.

We prioritize congregations/projects where there is a demonstrated need (meaning that the congregation cannot raise the funds alone) or where it is clear that our grant will have a catalytic effect (meaning that our grant is likely to lead to additional monies being contributed to the project).

Readiness

Once-in-a-generation capital projects require a great deal of planning. We are looking for applicants that understand their buildings’ needs and that are ready to undertake a capital campaign. National Fund congregations typically have a history of successful capital campaigns, which demonstrate an ability to raise significant funds and complete a project.

Successful congregations come to us with a realistic fundraising goal, which has been generated with the help of qualified preservation professionals and is not too far beyond the congregation’s fundraising capacity.

Healthy Congregations

The National Fund prioritizes healthy, stable congregations so that our investment is truly impactful and lasting. We look for the following, although this is not an exhaustive list of characteristics that indicate healthy congregations: tenured, well-respected clergy; capable lay leadership; stable or growing membership; financial strength and stability; support of the judicatory or governing body, if applicable; and a history of weathering any congregational conflict or trauma with resilience.

As a family foundation in Pittsburgh, PA, our philanthropic traditions are well rooted in our continued support of organizations that foster transformative programs which best serve the local community as a whole in the areas of arts and culture, education, environmental, health and medical, human services, and religion.

Even though the Snee-Reinhardt Charitable Foundation encompasses many broad areas of concern, or categories, there is no one area deemed more important than the next. Nevertheless, the Foundation has found it beneficial underwriting grants that are tangible in nature or serve a higher number of individuals within the community and surrounding areas. The Foundation continually aids organizations that are endlessly striving to serve the community in various ways such as improving social conditions, expanding education, and working to better the environment.

Category Definitions

The Snee-Reinhardt Charitable Foundation’s Board of Directors has designated several areas of concern comprised of specific intentions.

• Arts/Culture: Performing arts, humanities, media and communications, multipurpose museums, public broadcasting, and historical preservations.
• Education: Promotional programs for elementary, secondary and vocational systems, colleges/universities, graduate programs, adult and multipurpose libraries.
• Environmental: Support of natural resources, beautification programs, pollution control, environmental education, and horticultural/botanical programs.
• Health/Medical: Rural health care, crisis intervention, special programs in health centers, and prevention/treatment of specific diseases.
• Human Services: Youth development and recreation, disaster relief, employment training/ placement, multipurpose agencies, and abuse prevention.
• Religion: The theological education and ecumenical programs as well as the mission of many churches, synagogues, and religious charities.
• Miscellaneous: Because every grant cannot be included into a category, the Snee-Reinhardt Charitable Foundation permits grants for animal welfare, community development, sports, camps, fire and police departments and economic development as miscellaneous grants.  

Ms. Foundation for Women

The mission of the Ms. Foundation for Women is to build women’s collective power in the U.S. to advance equity and justice for all. We achieve our mission by investing in, and strengthening, the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural and economic change in the lives of women. Ms. has six grantmaking initiatives, one of which is the Birth Justice Initiative.

Birth Justice Initiative

Our Birth Justice Initiative aims to:

• advance equitable birth outcomes and experiences;
• strengthen the capacity, organizational infrastructure, and financial stability of grassroots Black, Indigenous and women of color-led birth justice organizations; and
• expand the frame of birth justice to support intersectional movements and strategies that recognize the full spectrum of experiences and identities in birthing, parenting, and family building.

We believe that Black, Indigenous, and women of color (including trans women and non-binary people) are key experts and should be decision-makers in shaping policy and culture change around birth justice. By investing directly into organizations led by and for women and girls of color, we are ensuring that the movement to address racial based disparities in healthcare, including birth outcomes and experiences, is led by those who are impacted most. Strengthening the collective power of communities of color is critical to addressing the root causes of these disparities and advancing birth justice for all.

The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates of all developed nations and Black women die at three to four times the rate of white women in birth – one of the widest racial disparities in women’s health. Systemic racism, implicit bias, and anti-Blackness all contribute to the significant disparities in birth outcomes among Black, Indigenous and birthing people of color. Moreover, the spectrum of intersectional issues that comprise birth justice and the ability to have children and parent with dignity, are not only limited to the birth process.

As such, the Ms. Foundation’s Birth Justice Initiative invests in organizations who represent the full spectrum of birth experiences including–but not limited to–preconception health, mental health and wellness, infertility, abortion access and abortion care, comprehensive sex and sexuality education, non-racist culturally affirming and gender expansive healthcare, access to birth workers of color, access to lactation support and services, postpartum health and wellness, grief and loss care and support, and sexual assault prevention and survivor support services. Organizations supported collectively utilize a range of movement building strategies to advance birth justice—such as narrative change, policy and systems change, advocacy, leadership development, direct service among others. And finally, they work at the intersection of birth justice and other movements, such as disability justice, youth justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, environmental justice, economic justice, and criminal legal reform.

Funding

During this cycle, Ms. will provide one-time grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 to selected organizations not currently receiving funding from Ms.’ Birth Justice Initiative. The grant period will comprise two years.