OVERVIEW: The CVS Health Foundation makes grants for health, mental health, human services and education. Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts are geographic priorities.
IP TAKE: The CVS Health Foundation makes hundreds of grants each year to organizations of every size but does not provide any direct information or guidelines about how to apply for grants or contact the foundation. If your organization operates in CVS’s home region of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts, reaching out to management at a local operation might yield results.
PROFILE: The CVS Health Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the national pharmacy chain and health care provider CVS Health. The foundation focuses its grantmaking on programs that “improve access to health care services, provide chronic disease management, and promote smoking cessation and prevention.” According to the foundation’s webpage it provides “support for our nonprofit partners, pharmacy schools and our own colleagues.” The foundation makes grants for health, social services and education via its Hometown Fund. It also runs a signature initiative, Be the First, to “help deliver the first nation’s tobacco-free generation.” A Scholarship program provides tuition assistance for children of CVS employees. Grantmaking is national in scope, but prioritizes CVS’s home states of Rhode Island and Connecticut, as well as Massachusetts.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
Health is, by far, the CVS Health Foundation’s largest commitment and the foundation articulates a strong commitment to “to broaden access to high-quality health care.” Grants support many large, national organizations, as well as community nonprofits in the foundation’s home region in the Northeast.
- National grantees tend to secure CVS’s largest grants. Recipients include the Essential Hospitals Institute, the American Hearth Association, the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics and Every Mother Counts, the maternal health nonprofit founded by Christy Turlington Burns.
- In its tri-state home region, grants have gone to Boston Community Pediatrics, Hartford’s Charter Oak Health Center and Americares Free Clinics of Connecticut.
- Addiction services are another area of strong interest. The CVS Foundation’s Be the First initiative has focused on smoking cessation support, but it is unclear if this program will continue to operate in the coming years. Grants to organizations involved in addiction counseling and services have supported the Rosecrance Foundation of Illinois, Connecticut’s Power Clean Recovery Corporation, Hartford’s Chrysalis Center and InterCommunity Health Care, which also provides addiction recovery services in Connecticut.
Grants for Education
The CVS Health Foundation’s Scholarship program only serves children of employees, but the foundation also supports education via its grantmaking. Higher education access and out-of-school learning for K-12 populations appear to be areas of focus.
- The foundation provides ongoing support to UNCF. Other higher education grantees include College Visions of Providence, Morgan State University in Baltimore, the University of Hartford, the University of South Carolina in Columbia and New York City’s Baruch College.
- The foundation also supports K-12 enrichment and youth programs at multiple chapters of Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs in the Northeast. In Hartford, the foundation has also supported Our Piece of the Pie, a nonprofit that helps teenagers achieve success “through personal development, academic achievement and workforce readiness.”
Grants for Mental Health, Homelessness, Food and Nutrition
Mental health care and services for homeless and vulnerable people are another area of prominent interest for CVS. Giving for addiction services overlaps with the foundation’s public health giving.
- Grantees involved in mental health services include the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for Texas, Connecticut’s Cove Center for Grieving, Doc Wayne Youth Services of Boston and the Elizabeth Buffum Chase Center in Rhode Island, which serves victims of domestic violence.
- Grantees providing services and resources to homeless and vulnerable people include the Tri-County Community Action Agency of Rhode Island, Amos House in Providence, the Aquidneck Community Table in Newport, Rhode Island and Community Servings of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Important Grant Details:
Grants range anywhere from $1,000 to $1 million.
- While the CVS Health Foundation does make grants in the hundreds of thousands to some large national organizations, a great majority of its grants support smaller organizations in the Northeast and stay below the $20,000 mark.
- While the CVS Health Foundation’s webpage does not provide application guidelines, a past tax filing indicates that organizations may reach out to Joanne Dwyer, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility via email at joanne.dwyer@cvshealth.com.
- For information about past grantees see the foundation’s tax filings or its Hometown Fund page.
This funder does not provide a direct way to get in touch, but Joanne Dwyer, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, can be reached via email at joanne.dwyer@cvshealth.com. The foundation’s phone number is listed as (401) 765-1500.
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LINKS:
CONTACT:
CVS Health Foundation
1 CVS Dr.
Woonsocket, RI 02895-6146