Building on Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona’s legacy of corporate giving, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) Foundation for Community & Health Advancement launched last January to help tackle the state’s toughest health challenges.
What an accomplished year it has been. So far, the Foundation has funded 88 grants totaling nearly $3 million to impact the Foundation’s four health focus areas: mental health, substance use disorder, chronic health conditions, and health equity. Grant opportunities are available to Arizona-based organizations working to improve lives and inspire vibrant communities.
Foundation fast facts:
- Announced in late 2021, the Foundation began operations in January 2022.
- The BCBSAZ Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private, non-operating foundation. A “non-operating” foundation simply means its primary goal is to distribute funds to nonprofits not run by its own programs.
- The Foundation supports applied research, expands boots-on-the-ground efforts through partnerships with trusted local organizations, and invests in programs that improve well-being and address health disparities.
To celebrate the one-year anniversary, we sat down with BCBSAZ Foundation President, Dr. Christine Wiggs, to ask how it all began and where the Foundation is headed.
Q&A
Q: How did the Foundation for Community & Health Advancement come to fruition and what is its overarching mission?
A: The Foundation formalizes our philanthropic investment in the health of our state. We are a separate entity from BCBSAZ, but we are built on BCBSAZ’s 83-year legacy of corporate giving. We understand we have an exciting and important opportunity to impact the health of communities across our state.
Q: How were the four focus areas chosen?
A: We started by looking at the health data in our state to find out where the greatest need is and narrow down our four key focus areas. The data informed the decision-making, then we coupled that with our vast experience being a solid partner with organizations that are making a difference. Whether that’s mental health, chronic health conditions, substance use disorder, or health equity, we have relationships with organizations’ leaders doing great work in these areas who let us know where the greatest opportunities for change are. We have intentional conversations and leverage those partnerships. We don’t just give dollars for the sake of giving dollars, these are areas we feel we can genuinely make a dent in and improve.
Q: Why is mental health the flagship focus?
A: It circles back to the data. Rates of anxiety and depression were already increasing in Arizona pre-pandemic and then exploded during the pandemic. It’s an important topic and issue that touches everyone, so we want to make sure we are putting more resources toward addressing mental health. Plus, we’ve been on a mission for the past several years to normalize the conversation surrounding mental health and the Foundation’s community partners help support that through their work.
Q: How do you feel about the one-year anniversary of the Foundation?
A: I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish in the first year. We set up a brand-new entity and, operationally, it was a huge learning curve. The good news is, we already knew how to effectively get dollars out the door and into the hands of grantees. What we’ve done is no small feat, with almost 90 grantees and nearly $3 million distributed in our first year.
Q: What are some Foundation goals and priorities for 2023 and beyond?
We have many goals. One exciting opportunity the Foundation gives us is to not only drive impact on programs and expanding services, but also applied research opportunities that inform real-world solutions. In years to come, we hope to see the number of applicants and grantees that conduct applied research increase. We’ve had a few, but we’re eager for more! One of our big goals for 2023 is determining how we measure the Foundation’s success since the impact of each focus area and each grantee cannot be measured in exactly the same way. Also, mental health will continue to be our flagship focus over the next several years. We made a commitment to invest $5 million over three years to address a wide range of mental health issues, and that is what we plan to do.