BUCKS-MONT COLLABORATIVE
Since its earliest days as a foundation, VNAF identified the Bucks-Mont Collaborative as a key partner agency in our region. The Collaborative, as it is known, is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to fostering information and resource sharing, dialogue, and collaborative action that produce results-oriented impact on health and human services issues in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. The Collaborative’s mission and focus aligns ideally with the VNAF’s core pillars of Health Access, Basic Health Needs, Capacity Building and Collaboration. Beginning in 2014, VNAF supported the Collaborative in various ways: sponsoring the Annual Summit, a must-attend conference for area health and human service leaders; providing first-in funding for its Training Institute, which has expanded to provide trauma-informed training and professional development free of charge for members; and investing in the Racial Equity Learning Community, a multi-year, cohort-based educational series that the Collaborative co-led with Tri-County Network and the ICN. Leading up to 2024, the VNAF granted more than $283,000 in multi-year, multi-use grants to the Collaborative to support its General Operations, the Training Institute, and its Annual Summit.
In 2024, upon the passing of a remarkable leader from the VNAF and Bucks-Mont Collaborative network, the VNAF determined that it would make its largest-ever commitment in the form of the Kitty Fitzgerald Memorial Fund, a 5-year, $250,000 grant to the Bucks-Mont Collaborative. The grant honors Kathleen A. “Kitty” Fitzgerald, who led the North Penn Visiting Nurse Association for decades, and who went on to co-found both the VNA Foundation of Greater North Penn and the Bucks-Mont Collaborative as a volunteer. Fitzgerald passed away from cancer in April, 2024 at the age of 73.
“Kitty knew how crucial it was to help the helpers,” observed Diana Doherty, Executive Director of the VNA Foundation. “The Bucks-Mont Collaborative strengthens the abilities of professionals and volunteers working in nonprofit organizations in our region, building their knowledge, skills and networks.
“This $250,000 grant in Kitty’s name will help the Bucks-Mont Collaborative offer its high-quality training and educational opportunities at a low-cost to participants, so hardworking nonprofit leaders can deliver more efficient and effective care to our neighbors who need shelter, safety, food and other basic health needs.”
The VNA Foundation of Greater North Penn is a private philanthropic foundation based in Lansdale, dedicated to supporting the nonprofit health and human service providers in the greater North Penn region of Montgomery County, PA. The recipient of this landmark grant, the Bucks-Mont Collaborative, is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to fostering information and resource sharing, dialogue, and collaborative action that produce results-oriented impact on health and human services issues in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. The Collaborative, as it is known, partners with its members and community through three core services: collaboration, education, and advocacy, as well as strategic initiatives. To join or support the Collaborative, visit bucksmontcollab.org.
“We are so proud and humbled to receive this major grant from the VNA Foundation, and it is even more of an honor to serve the community in Kitty’s memory,” remarked Kristyn DiDominick, Executive Director of the Bucks-Mont Collaborative. Adds Jennifer King, Chair of the Collaborative’s Board of Directors, “Kitty helped create strong partnerships that helped the Collaborative grow and thrive, and this 5-year commitment from the VNA Foundation is a powerful way to honor her legacy.”
With more than 120 nonprofit members, the Bucks-Mont Collaborative fosters a strong network of people dedicated to improving community health, a key priority throughout Fitzgerald’s life and career. “My mother grew up with a sense of service and helping people,” remembers her son Mark Fitzgerald, who delivered remarks on the family’s behalf at the August, 2024 event announcing the $250,000 Kitty Fitzgerald Memorial Fund. “Both she and my father were role models in recognizing the need to give back to the community, and she would love the fact that this grant in her name will help many people do just that.”
Collaborative staffers Payal Mohan (L) and Kristyn DiDominick (R), with VNA Foundation’s Diana Doherty, Kitty Fitzgerald, and Kathy McCarter in 2023
Collaborative Executive Director Kristyn DiDominick (R) leading members at Advocacy Day in Harrisburg in 2024
VNAF’s Joanne Kline (center) presenting early grant support to the Collaborative’s founding Coordinator Ella Roush (L) and then-Board President Peggy Schmidt (R), 2015
VNAF’s Kitty Fitzgerald (white sweater), Anne Frank (2nd from right) and Dave Crosson (far right), all of whom also served as Board Presidents for the Collaborative, with founding Collaborative Coordinator Ella Roush (far left) and other leaders in 2016
VNA Foundation Board and staff announcing the $250,000 Kitty Fitzgerald Memorial Fund grant to Collaborative Board President Jennifer King and Executive Director Kristyn DiDominick (both holding check), 2024. Also pictured at the presentation are Christopher and Mark Fitzgerald, two of Kitty’s sons.
