At The Colorado Health Foundation, we believe that keeping equity at the heart of our work leads to better health, and that health is a basic human right. Every person and community has the right to have what they need to live healthy lives.
We also know communities have unique strengths and deep awareness of their health equity-related needs. When community members who experience a problem identify it and then design and implement solutions, they can raise their collective voice and strengthen their power. These community-initiated solutions are more likely to meet local needs and create lasting impact.
Too often, community change efforts are carried out by organizations whose work is done “to” or “for” community members rather than in partnership “with” them or led “by” the community. Examples of differences between these approaches are as follows1:
Additional examples and definitions can be found here.
This funding opportunity directly supports organizations and community members that are rooted in and accountable to their communities, through authentic partnerships.
Our intent is to advance health equity. Priority consideration will be given to proposals that center communities impacted by systemic inequity, including: communities of color, Indigenous communities, rural communities, and communities experiencing economic hardship.
We want to fund ideas that increase health equity and lead to healthier communities by supporting solutions where community members who experience the problem are the ones driving decision-making. The Foundation is not prescribing which health focus/challenge applicants choose, nor the approach to solving it. Instead, we invite community members to identify the health issue they want to tackle, and to take the lead in designing and implementing their identified solutions.
Applicant proposals must reflect CHF’s cornerstones which indicate who we serve, how our work is informed, and our intent to create health equity. Applications may request funding to support a range of programs and/or projects that community members identify as necessary to address their specific health challenge. As a required component, a strong application actively describes how the community identified the challenge and shaped the solution, (e.g., the process of collaboration and partnership with community members to meet the criteria listed below).
Have questions? We’re here to talk through your ideas, and we encourage you to connect with us before applying for funding. Please contact us by email or call 303-953-3600 to be connected with the appropriate program officer based on your area of interest or geographic area.
Si necesita acceder a la solicitud de fondos en español, por favor contáctenos a [email protected].
Select the accordion menu below for additional detail on funding criteria to help you prepare a grant proposal.
- Aligns with our cornerstones; priority is given to proposals demonstrating partnership “with” or “by” people of color.
- Clearly describes the specific issue/challenge and how it impacts health, and demonstrates how the solution will improve health equity.
- Shows that community members identified the health challenge and developed the proposed solution.
- Describes how community members are leading the implementation of the approaches and/or projects.
- Demonstrates a plan that is viable and achievable, either through current partnerships, existing capacity, or planned expansion; preference is given to proposals that build upon and leverage existing community capacity.
- Community-based groups or nonprofit organizations (groups without 501(c)(3) status will need to partner with a fiscal sponsor).
- Other applicants that can demonstrate a substantial commitment to community-identified and community-led efforts to address complex health-related issues and/or challenges.
Community: Broadly, the Foundation defines community as a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific and shared locality and often have common characteristics or interests and/or cultural and historical heritage. Specifically, the Foundation considers the following entities within the definition: individuals, organizations, networks, coalitions, sub-populations, neighborhoods, regions and systems that underlie shared characteristics and interests or locality.
Health: The Foundation considers health to be the ability to engage in and enjoy a vibrant life – a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Health equity: Health equity exists when there are no unnecessary, avoidable, unfair, unjust, or caused differences in health status.
Local/locality: A community belonging or relating to a particular geographic area, specifically at the sub-regional level (for example: neighborhood, sub-area, district, town, city, municipality, or county), or a distinct population found at the sub-regional level.
Communities of Color: Refers to Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, tribal communities, and multiracial communities.
Power: At its core, power is the ability to act and to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.
We often partner with third-party evaluators, contractors and other organizations over the course of our work with applicants and grantees. Your application and its attachments may be shared with these individuals or entities during the review process and grant cycle. All third-party organizations partnering with the Foundation have signed a confidentiality agreement and will not use or share the information for purposes outside of the scope of work specific to the grant application or grant award. If you have any concerns or would like additional information, please email [email protected] or call our senior director of Grantmaking Operations at 303-953-3600.
We encourage all applicants to sign up in our grants management system to confirm registration is complete at least a week in advance of submitting a grant application. Applications submitted in advance of the June 15 deadline are not reviewed until the deadline has passed.
1 ‘To–For–With–By Narrative’ graphic by Cormac Russell, via Nurture Development (https://www.nurturedevelopment.org/). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
We're here to help
Have questions? Contact your Program Officer for more information.
