CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT

Contact information:
1000 North Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012 
Phone: 800-449-4149
Fax: 213-928-8801

Website: http://www.calendow.org/

Type of foundation: Private foundation (health conversion foundation)

Types of grants: Project, general operating, capacity-building, program-related investments

Description: The California Endowment is a private, statewide health foundation that was created in 1996 as a result of Blue Cross of California's creation of WellPoint Health Networks, a for-profit corporation. The core of the Endowment’s work is the “Health Happens Here” campaign, which is “reframing the conversation around health care from medical settings and individual choices to the idea that our health happens in neighborhoods, schools and through aggressive prevention measures.” In 2010, the Endowment launched a 10-year, $1 billion program called Building Healthy Communities. Focused on 14 California communities, the goal of the program is to create places where children are healthy, safe and ready to learn. This is the Endowment’s primary grantmaking program, although it will consider applications from outside the 14 target communities.

Several of the outcomes identified for Building Healthy Communities have convergence with media, most notably: “California has a Shared Vision of Community Health.” The Endowment has a very solid history of funding public media, including numerous recent grants.

The Endowment’s Innovative Ideas Challenge seeks to fund “disruptive innovations” in addressing California’s health issues. The disruptive innovation should align with at least one of the Endowment’s 4 Big Results or 10 Outcomes from its Building Healthy Communities strategy. The primary goal should be prevention or early intervention. A disruptive innovation is one that brings to market products and services that are more affordable and, ultimately, higher in quality. It improves a product or service in ways that the market does not expect, typically by being lower priced or being designed for a different set of consumers. The Innovative Ideas Challenge is not restricted to the Endowment’s 14 target communities.

Sample grants:

• $1,050,000 to Pacific News Service for Youth-Led Media for Community Health (2011).
• $920,988 to Univision Communications, Univision Television Group for Phase 2 of The New Health Education Effort: To promote 13 enrollment events, via radio, television and online platforms, in 13 counties in California to enroll low-income Latinos into public health coverage programs, and to educate Latinos about the importance of enrollment, what documents they will need to enroll, and to help dispel myths about public charge (2012).
• $700,038 to La Opinion (Los Angeles) for Health Happens Here Multimedia Campaign: To educate Latinos about the Affordable Care Act and how the legislation will help address chronic health conditions among communities of color in California (2012).
• $600,000 to Tides Center, healthycal.org Project for Connecting Health Policy and Community Health News: To increase awareness among policymakers and local leaders through a statewide news web site that connects health policy reporting from Sacramento with community health news from throughout California (2012).
• $450,000 to Pacific News Service for Health Care Reform (2011).
• $400,000 to Southern California Public Radio for Reporting on Community Health: To support online and radio broadcast reporting on health and community health issues throughout Southern California in order to work toward creating a more supportive environment for policy and systems change statewide (2012).
• $350,000 to KCET Community Television of Southern California for Community Health Reporting on SoCal Connected (2011).
• $340,382 to Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education for Re-imagining Journalism About the Health Impact of Violence: To raise public awareness regarding the health impacts of violence in East Oakland through a new combination of traditional journalism, local voices and community engagement (2012).
• $339,100 to KQED for Health Reporting on Public Radio: To support comprehensive public radio broadcasting coverage of health issues in Northern California, with a greater focus on community health toward creating a more supportive environment for policy and systems change statewide (2012).
• $303,447 to Pacific News Service for The Know Youth Media for Healthy Youth Development in the Central Valley (2011).
• $205,639 to Bay Citizen for Community Health News (2011).
• $200,000 to Radio Bilingue for Latino Affordable Care Act Education Project: To support culturally competent programming for low-income Spanish-, Mixtec- and Triqui-speaking listeners throughout California about the Affordable Care Act, eligibility and enrollment in public health and aid programs, and the facts and myths associated with enrollment in public charge assistance (2012).
• $200,000 to Smiley Group, TS Media to broadcast Tavis Smiley Show 'Road to Health' Series: To educate the public about community health issues impacting California and the nation by featuring a monthly health segment in a nationally syndicated public affairs program (2012).
• $190,000 to Youth Radio for Youth Journalism About Healthy Schools: To increase the capacity of a leading Bay Area youth media outlet to report on how school environments affect the health of young people (2012).
• $154,000 to McClatchy Company, Sacramento Bee for Community Health Journalism in Sacramento: To increase the capacity of a leading Sacramento media outlet to report on community health issues and raise public awareness about the relationship between health and neighborhood environments (2012).
• $153,126 to Capital Public Radio for Reporting on California's Community Health Issues: To support expansion of health care reporting to include coverage of community health issues impacting California locally, regionally and statewide (2012).
• $150,414 to Capital Public Radio for Reporting on California's Health Issues (2011).
• $150,000 to WETA – PBS NewsHour for Broadcast and Digital Reporting on Health Care Reform (2011).
• $90,000 to Zero Divide for Emerging Voices in Community Health Journalism: To provide technical assistance to community bloggers and web site editors to strengthen their capacity for reporting on community health issues in California and increase the audience for community health content (2012).
• $50,000 to Native Media Resource Center for Healthy Community Engagement through Public Radio (2011).
• $50,000 to Minnesota Public Radio for On the Road with Marketplace Money (2011).
• $15,000 to Native Media Resource Center for Healthy Community Engagement through Public Radio: To support local media programming that will include health information in English and Spanish to increase health access opportunities and ensure healthy community engagement for underserved and under-represented communities in the Gualala area of Mendocino County (2012).
• $10,000 to Pacifica Foundation for Health Education Radio Programming: To provide general operating support for public radio health education programming for underserved communities in Alameda, San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles counties (2012).
• $10,000 to Latino Public Radio Consortium for Public Radio Health Issues Promotion (2011).

Fit for public broadcasting: The Endowment is a strong supporter of public service media (including outlets that are outside of the public radio/public television system), primarily as a means of raising public awareness about health issues in California. The Endowment has funded several media projects aimed at reaching specific target communities (e.g., youth, Latinos, Native Americans).

Eligibility: The California Endowment makes grants to nonprofit organizations, tribal governments and public agencies that directly benefit the health and well-being of Californians. Applicant organizations or their fiscal sponsor must generally have valid tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and be classified as a public charity -- not as a "private foundation" under section 509(a). The Endowment will not fund:

• Individuals.
• Endowments.
• Operating deficits.
• Media projects that are not related to its primary program areas.
• Capital funding for the purchase, construction or renovation of facilities.

Deadline: Some specific initiatives have deadlines. The 2013 deadline for the Innovative Ideas Challenge is May 1.

How to apply: Most of the Endowment’s grantmaking is committed to its Building Healthy Communities program, which includes the Innovative Ideas Challenge. The Endowment generally does not fund unsolicited proposals. Applicants serving one of the 14 target communities should contact the local program manager. Other applicants should submit an online letter of inquiry. Applicants to the Innovative Idease Challenge should submit an online summary of their proposed project.

Giving range: Up to approximately $1.5 million.

Assets: $3,745,324,056 (year ended March 31, 2011).

Total giving: $124,777,309 (year ended March 31, 2011).

View 2012 Annual Report here.