The Alliance for Health Equity recently announced the recipients of the Recovery Phase grants of its Healthcare & Economic Relief Fund. More than $373,000 will support general operations of 22 local organizations responding to the increased demands and organizational stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A 2017 study conducted by the Philadelphia Foundation revealed that more than 40 percent of the nonprofit sector in the five-county region has net operating margins of zero or less and are characterized as not being financially strong. This is even more alarming when factoring in the impact of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector’s fiscal solvency over the next six months and beyond, along with its ability to address the disparities among communities of color.
“As a responsive philanthropic organization, we understood the need to approach funding differently,” said Vanessa B. Briggs, president & CEO of The Alliance for Health Equity. “It was apparent that nonprofits need unrestricted, multi-year grants as they continue to meet the needs of so many struggling families and communities before, during, and after COVID-19, while addressing racial inequities and managing shrinking budgets.”
Along with many other foundations, AHE has implemented a series of new funding strategies due to the impact of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector and the inequities it has exposed. In an effort to support organizational resiliency and center its work around racial equity, for the first time in the foundation’s history, the grant committee required nonprofits to submit their board-approved racial equity statements, values, or guiding principles.
AHE embraces its evolving role to meet its nonprofit partners where they are, whether it is to support the recovery of financial losses due to COVID-19 and help to sustain their future viability through general operating grants or journey with them to collectively build a racial equity community of practice. AHE’s responsive philanthropy aims to ensure that its nonprofit partners have the resources and capacity to serve the most vulnerable communities fairly and justly.
Click here for a complete list of the grant recipients of Phase Two of The Alliance for Health Equity’s Healthcare & Economic Relief Fund.
Written By: Mark Hostutler at Vista Today