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Catalyst Grants

The intent of this grant program is to foster a culture of innovation and challenge the status quo to improve health.

Grant Purpose

We seek to foster innovation to improve the health and well-being in South Carolina through small-scale projects that can accelerate and advance strategies that improve health.

With this grant opportunity, we ask you to think about how your organization can better serve individuals in your service area, your community or the state.

The Foundation views projects on a spectrum from initial development to established programs. This funding opportunity is to support these projects in their early stages including:

  • Identifying the need and engaging your community or key stakeholders
  • Working collaboratively to build shared understanding of the issue
  • Testing and implementing solutions and share learning

These grants are intended to help better define an issue or decision maker needs, cultivate partnerships, and/or determine next steps to apply learning to action.

Grant Eligibility

Amount: $25,000

Duration: 12 months

Start Date for Fall Cycle: January 2020

To be eligible for grant funding, you must be a nonprofit organization that has a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as determined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Due to other funding opportunities the following organization types are not eligible to apply for the Innovation Grant:

  • Free Clinics
  • Children's Advocacy Centers
  • State or local government agencies

Each organization can have only one Catalyst Grant open at a time and only one application per organization will be considered each cycle.

How to apply

Areas We Fund

1. Access to Care

  • Support safety net providers to provide primary physical and mental health care.
  • Implement evidence-based or innovative models to increase accessibility of health care services.

2. Building a Stronger Workforce for Health

  • Support projects to increase the number of health care professionals.
  • Support health care career development through evidence-based or innovative approaches to advance skills.

3. Improving the Quality and Value of Health and Health Care

  • Quality improvement projects that yield cost and resource efficiencies through innovative approaches and solutions

4. Investing in the Health and Well-being of SC Children and Families

  • Support projects that foster environments and settings that encourage healthy eating and active lifestyles.
  • Support projects that focus on the integration of mental health and adverse childhood experiences.
  • Support projects that focus on population health improvement through intentional collaboration across multiple sectors to connect the non-health factors that influence health.

5. Research/Special Projects

  • Support projects to inform, influence and support our Areas of Focus and/or our Mission. These projects may fall outside of an established area of focus yet would generate value-added information relevant to the health needs of the economically vulnerable population in South Carolina.

Is your organization interested in applying for a Catalyst Grant?


Learn how to apply