Ending HIV in Indiana – Guest blog from THF
Later this week, FCAA is convening a funder meeting focused on “Sector Evolution:” how AIDS Service Organizations, Community Based Organizations, and private funders are responding to an increasingly evolving healthcare and HIV landscape. This guest blog examines how one domestic funder is adapting to help their grantees transform to meet the challenges of ending HIV in Indiana.
With President Obama signing the Affordable Care Act into law and releasing the U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) in 2010, the HPTN 052 treatment-as-prevention findings in 2011, the approval of Truvada for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2012, and the HIV Care Continuum Initiative of 2013, The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis (THF) set the ambitious goal of ending HIV in Indiana in this generation.
In order to achieve an AIDS-free Indiana, we began by focusing on HIV treatment and HIV treatment-as-prevention in 2012. We increased grants to programs that were targeting the most-at-risk populations by using the Gardner cascade to promote testing, engagement in healthcare, retention in HIV treatment, and achievement of HIV viral suppression. We also asked our grantees to collaborate with one another and to make proposals together. Ultimately, The Health Foundation reduced its grantees from 20+ to 7, but increased the amounts granted. In other words, instead of funding 20+ organizations with grants from $8,000 to $85,000, we instead awarded 7 grants with an average amount of $75,000 – with two grantees each receiving $180,000 – with the hope that collaboration would crack some of the most stubborn HIV treatment obstacles.
Keeping our new goal in mind, and after reading the first year grant reports, we decided in mid-2013 to engage a consultant to do a HIV services and care gap analysis by reviewing the landscape of HIV-related efforts in Indiana, and to issue a report that would help guide the Health Foundation’s continued HIV focus and funding.
The report recommended that THF should:
- Build capacity to improve the quality of and sustainability of HIV programs by helping organizations partner, change and grow, and
- Support progress through policy work and advocacy related to HIV.
In order to achieve the first objective, we are exploring supporting the integration and expansion of high quality HIV care into the primary care setting by collaborating with CHCs, FQHCs, and hospitals. We hope to work with healthcare providers to include the services of an Infectious Disease-Nurse Practitioner and/or an Infectious Disease physician to oversee the specialized needs of HIV+ patients while also taking care of their primary, dental and behavioral health needs.
As we begin to support HIV policy work and advocacy, we will convene our grantees to find out which issues are most important to them, what they want from an advocacy program, and why. We are anticipating making three-year minimum commitment to advocacy and policy work.
About The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis
The Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis was created in 1985 as the Metropolitan Health Council of Indianapolis with $12.5 million in proceeds from the sale of Indiana’s first Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), MetroHealth. An independent, not-for-profit grant maker, The Health Foundation has been and is still dedicated to preserving and enhancing the physical, mental and social health of the Greater Indianapolis community.
As part of its mission, The Health Foundation supports programs that would otherwise go unfunded and it provides much more than just dollars. It grants expertise, builds partnerships to address health issues and disparities, and encourages innovative solutions that improve the health of people in Greater Indianapolis, especially those who are disadvantaged.
Since 1986, The Health Foundation has contributed more than $32.7 million to health-related projects that are not easily funded by other means. From the beginning, its mission has been to support health-related causes; however, its funding priorities have changed as health concerns have evolved. Its current funding priorities are HIV/AIDS, school-based health and childhood obesity. The Health Foundation is a tax-exempt charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is further classified as a private foundation under section 509(A) of the code.
In 2012, The Health Foundation disbursed $715,368 to HIV/AIDS-related efforts, ranking as the 46th largest private AIDS-related funder in the United States.
Is your organization responding to the same issues? Please share your stories – as a funder or grantee – on how your organization is meeting the challenges of sector evolution. Email [email protected].