We are Altering our Funding Strategies in Response to COVID-19

San Diego, CA. March 16, 2020.  At Alliance Healthcare Foundation, we work every day to advance the health and wellness of vulnerable populations by collaborating with and supporting community partners in San Diego and Imperial counties. With the spread of COVID-19, we are painfully aware of the devastating impacts that will be felt by thousands of families in our region due to the widespread health and economic tolls we are experiencing globally.

Like many of you, we are actively pursuing opportunities to provide support as we grapple with COVID-19. This is a time to act swiftly. Our goals are simple:

• Assist the region in “flattening the curve” of infection outbreak;
• Mitigate the negative social impacts (health and economic), and
• Support our partners in their efforts to do the same.

We will continue to identify strategic roles we can play to support those goals, and in the meantime, we are taking immediate action. AHF has adopted a 100% work-from-home policy to avoid further exponential spread of COVID-19 and ensure we are following best practices in public health. We are also contributing up to $400,000 initially in the following COVID-19 response efforts:

1. We are pleased to join forces with The San Diego Foundation, San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, San Diego Gas + Electric, the United Way and many others contributing grant funding towards the COVID-19 Response Fund that The San Diego Foundation announced today. AHF is contributing $100,000 to the fund, and we will also match up to an additional $100,000 in new donations to the fund.The Response Fund represents a coalition of philanthropy, government and business partners. It will focus on securing vulnerable populations (like the thousands of hospitality and tourism-related employees who have been laid off and school children who have limited access to free and reduced food for themselves and their families). The immediate focus will be on food security, income replacement/gap assistance, and rental/utilities payments.

2. We are also diverting an additional $100,000 to help seed a no-interest loan fund with another $100,000 in matching contributions to encourage more participation, all to support non-profits who are experiencing gaps in contract funding, delayed fundraisers, etc.  Access to the no-interest loan fund will be available through our partnership with The San Diego Foundation, with further details to follow in the coming days.

We deeply appreciate the leadership of The San Diego Foundation, San Diego County leadership, the business community and other funders who are taking immediate actions to make responsive funding available to those in need. We stand strong with all our community partners and will continue to proactively work to do our part in keeping our community safe and well.

Here are important links for further information on the available funding as well as official updates on COVID-19:

COVID-19 Response Fund and FAQs

Donate to the COVID-19 Response Fund 

County of San Diego Daily COVID-19 Updates

CDC Prevention Tips

##########About Alliance Healthcare Foundation

We work to advance health and wellness for the most vulnerable in San Diego and Imperial counties through collaborative funding, convening and advocacy.

We envision a San Diego and Imperial County region where equitable health resources lead to universal health and well-being. We believe wellness is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual, economic and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

We currently operate a portfolio of five programs:

i2 Innovation Initiative — also referred to as “venture philanthropy”—based on the thesis that innovation capital (often high risk, high reward) is needed to transform the current paradigm (high cost and poor outcomes) and improve quality, increase capacity and reduce costs;

Mission Support—based on the belief that trusting those closest to our constituents and providing core operating support for great organizations will best advance our mission;

Responsive Funding—based on the belief that it is important to be responsive to time-sensitive community needs and opportunities;

InvestUp—based on the belief that it is important to actively and strategically be looking for ways to meaningfully advance our mission and it is worth spending some or all of our corpus—beyond the earnings off of our endowment—if we can substantively, sustainably and positively change the dynamics; and

Impact Investments–based on the thesis that we can activate our investment portfolio to achieve more positive impact.

Our History. In 1982, the San Diego Community Healthcare Alliance (Alliance) created the first Preferred Provider Organization/Network (PPO) in the United States. From 1989 through 1994, the Alliance funded Alliance Healthcare Foundation (AHF) through profits from its Community Care Network (CCN) operations. In 1994, Alliance sold CCN to a national healthcare company and channeled the proceeds from CCN’s sale into an endowment of $83 million for AHF. That endowment has enabled funding of approximately $64 million (USD) in direct funding and approximately $41 million (USD) from national and local funding partners in San Diego and Imperial counties. Our endowment holds approximately $80 million in assets today, with funding for programs and operations derived from endowment investment earnings.

AHF Media contact:
Karen Winston, Communications Director, Alliance Healthcare Foundation
P 858-348-6472 E karen.winston@alliancehf.org