Early Beginnings

The Intermountain Community Care Foundation was founded by Intermountain Healthcare in 1982 under the name “Intermountain Healthcare Foundation,” as a way to give back to the community and “to carry out the purposes” of Intermountain Healthcare, including to improve the healthcare of underserved, vulnerable populations. The Foundation began funding agencies that served the homeless, low-income, and others in need within Intermountain’s communities. The Foundation also provided some educational scholarships to promote healthcare careers.

When Primary Children’s Medical Center moved to a modern facility close to the University of Utah, the old Primary Children’s hospital and property were sold. Intermountain Healthcare gave the proceeds from the sale to the Foundation to fund activities promoting children’s health issues. Those funds were allocated over ten years.

Giving Strategy Change

In 2005, the Foundation’s board of trustees amended its giving strategy to focus on three areas of healthcare:

  1. Primary healthcare activities, such as clinics for the medically underserved and Intermountain’s community and school clinics (“primary healthcare” means basic medical, dental, and mental healthcare);
  2. Services for pregnant women and newborn children healthcare programs; and
  3. Other programs related to Intermountain’s healthcare mission.

At the same time, the Foundation implemented an outcome-based logic model to be used with the standard application form. That logic model employs a systematic and visual method of showing a community’s health needs, the resources available to the community to meet those needs, the community’s plan to meet its needs, and the changes or results the community expects to achieve.

Healthcare Grants

In 2009, the Foundation’s board once again refined the Foundation’s grant-making focus to encourage direct healthcare and healthcare-support services.

  • Direct healthcare services include the provision of direct medical, dental, and mental health services to low-income, uninsured or medically underserved populations.
  • Healthcare support services include activities that facilitate access to healthcare services or reduce disease for low-income, uninsured or medically-underserved populations. Those programs may include disease-prevention, case-management, and insurance-enrollment efforts.

Expanding Our Scope

At the end of 2010, the Foundation and another Intermountain-sponsored foundation combined their endowments and grant-giving efforts to become one foundation supporting direct healthcare services and healthcare-support services. With these combined funds, the Foundation now supports an expanded scope of activities, including specific community health centers in Utah, Intermountain-owned and operated community and school clinics, mental-health programs, and nonprofit agencies providing direct healthcare and healthcare-support services.

During 2011, research was conducted to determine the best way to help Intermountain Healthcare and its hospital foundations — those that were affiliated but not part of Intermountain Healthcare — succeed in their philanthropic endeavors. Those endeavors include adding healthcare services in hospital communities, expanding medical research to better care for Intermountain’s patients, and providing new equipment to Intermountain’s community hospitals. The research indicated that by maintaining its local affiliation with patients and donors and by consolidating the work of the 12 affiliated foundations, Intermountain could more effectively and efficiently support the wonderful philanthropic activities conducted throughout the Intermountain communities.

Strength of System

So, in March 2012, Intermountain made some changes. First, it changed the name of the Intermountain Healthcare Foundation to the Intermountain Community Care Foundation. That Community Care Foundation will continue to support the expanded scope of activities mentioned above as a grant-making foundation.

Then Intermountain organized a new foundation to conduct and support the philanthropic activities formerly carried on by the 13 affiliated foundations. And Intermountain conferred on this new foundation the name “Intermountain Healthcare Foundation.”

The new Intermountain Healthcare Foundation supports the philanthropic activities previously performed by the 13 foundations affiliated with Intermountain hospitals and homecare services in Utah and southern Idaho. Those activities include adding healthcare services in hospital communities, expanding medical research to better care for Intermountain’s patients, and providing new equipment to Intermountain’s community hospitals and healthcare services.

Although it has a new name, the role of the Intermountain Community Care Foundation remains the same. It will continue to provide grants to clinics, to Intermountain-owned community and school clinics, and to agencies that provide direct healthcare and healthcare-support services to medically underserved individuals throughout the Intermountain area.