2024 Grantmaking: Announcing Recipients of Community Driven Change and We All Benefit Funding Opportunities

In May 2024, St. David’s Foundation announced two open call funding opportunities to support organizations doing vital work to foster healthier communities and increase access to health care in Central Texas. The focus and goals of these funding opportunities were informed by conversations with our community and grant partners to address current needs and areas of opportunity for our region as the Foundation works to advance health equity across Central Texas.

The Foundation received more than 300 initial letters of intent across both open calls which were reviewed for eligibility and alignment with the goals of each opportunity. Following the initial review process, 114 organizations were asked to submit a full application. The Foundation has awarded 39 grants to advance health equity in Central Texas.

“We are inspired by the exciting community-centered and equity-driven work shared with us through these funding opportunities,” said Regan Gruber Moffitt, VP of Community Investments, St. Davids Foundation. “The response to these two open calls demonstrated the strong commitment of local organizations to address health disparities in our region – particularly for those who have historically had less power and opportunity.” 

The Community Driven Change open call awarded $9.1M in grants focused on elevating organizations engaging community members in decision making and leadership to foster healthier communities in Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson counties. A total of 23 grants were awarded to organizations, 91% of which are led by people of color, who are actively listening to community and using those insights to effectively support individuals and families to achieve improvement in their health and wellness. This funding is centered on the Foundation’s belief that addressing social and environmental conditions for generational change in historically marginalized communities requires those closest to the issues to help create and implement solutions. Awardees received an unrestricted one-time grant.

More details on the Community Driven Change open call, including a data snapshot and full list of grant recipients can be found here.

The We All Benefit open call awarded $7.4M in cumulative grant funding through 16 grants. These investments will focus on increasing access to quality, responsive care by supporting organizations or collaboratives currently enrolling eligible Central Texans in health insurance benefits (e.g. Medicaid, CHIP, ACA) and supporting eligibility determination and enrollment through outreach, education, or training. This funding – supporting enrollment efforts at nearly 100 sites – will allow organizations to scale up operations and services to immediately reach high-need populations. Grants to collaborations reflect work at the intersection of benefits and clinical and behavioral care, social services navigation, food, housing and education. Also reflected in this cohort are six new innovative partnerships that represent collaborations of diverse organizations leveraging combined assets and resources toward enrollment efforts.

More details on the We All Benefit open call, including a data snapshot and full list of grant recipients can be found here.

The open call funding opportunities reflect the evolution of our grantmaking to offer a more equitable process. Looking ahead, we will continue to broaden our ways of working to allow for different types of funding mechanisms to ensure our investments are impactful and advancing the goals outlines in the Foundation’s strategic plan, Pathways to Health Equity.