Local foundation dares to be different
by Emily M. Hall Jan 7, 2004

Health Foundation addresses issues ‘no one else will’
By defying conservative foundation practices like funding only safe projects and lowering payouts, the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis is a nonprofit organization unlike any other in Indianapolis. During lean economic times that have spurred many foundations to limit their grantmaking, the Health Foundation has maintained a higher than average rate of payout, funding controversial programs like school reproductive health programs, gay youth outreach and ground-breaking HIV initiatives.
Under CEO Betty Wilson, the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis has addressed controversial health issues like reproductive health and HIV by paying out grants at a much higher than average rate.
The rate of payout for a foundation is the amount of the endowment that is spent on grantmaking, administrative costs and any other forms of monetary assistance. Foundations in general aim for a 5 percent payout rate over a three-year average since paying less will result in the imposition of excise taxes. In 2001, the Health Foundation’s payout rate reached nearly 8.5 percent. According to Dr. Dwight F. Burlingame, associate director of the IU Center on Philanthropy at IUPUI, the Health Foundation’s payout rate is “significantly higher than most payout rates of foundations.” The foundation did not decrease their funding in the economic downturn of 2002; their payout rate last year reached over 8 percent. And they have no intentions of decreasing their funding in the near future, says Betty Wilson, the foundation’s CEO. Resulting from the sale of Metro Health — an HMO — in 1985, the Health Foundation carried over all of the board members from the HMO and had an original endowment that included $12 million for grantmaking. The Health Foundation quickly focused on the area of HIV/AIDS as a funding priority, deciding in 1990 that underserved populations would be their main constituency. In 1991, the foundation added the area of school-based health clinics to their focus and, shortly thereafter, adolescent health. All three of these areas — HIV/AIDS, school-based health clinics and adolescent health — are current funding areas of the foundation. The foundation added a focus on elder health in 1999-2000. Wilson believes the foundation fulfills a niche role in the Indianapolis community in that they deal with controversial issues. Initial funding for HIV was problematic since, in those days, the topic wasn’t being talked about, “which made it particularly attractive to us,” Wilson says. Other initiatives have included reproductive health in school-based health care programs and gay youth programs, where the No. 1 concern was safety. In 1989-1990, the first year of funding for the youth programs, the organization received a lot of hate mail and phone calls, but the board never let that deter them, Wilson says. In 1996, the foundation expanded its programs for gay youth and led programs on diversity in the GLBT community. A recent program was called “Youth and Diversity,” and was designed to appeal to an even broader audience. Any agency that is advancing the mission of the Health Foundation and fits into one of the four initiatives is eligible to apply for a grant. Wilson believes that organizations willing to focus on the problem of obesity and adolescence might be the next funding area the Health Foundation chooses to address. As for the present, the foundation will continue striving to be “a better community servant,” and keep funding at a higher level, Wilson explains. She believes that the foundation has a duty to meet the expectations it has created in its past investments and grantmaking. Board member Thomas Feeney concurs. “When the economy took a downturn in 2001-2002, we decided, as a board, that the agencies that we funded could not afford a sharp decrease in funding … If we keep the funding level at the same amount, they could keep their programs going, and we would still survive. Then we could make adjustments in future years.” With an estimated 6,000 nonprofits in the U.S. going out of existence every year, the philanthropic sector is a fickle place to exist. The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis has demonstrated that an organization can address controversial issues, pay out higher than average and still succeed. Both Wilson and Feeney echoed the sentiment expressed clearly on the foundation’s Web site: “We feel that if we don’t address these issues, nobody else will.” The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis is located in the Marott Center, first floor, 342 Massachusetts Ave., phone 317-630-1805, fax 317-630-1806, Web www.thfgi.org.
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