Partnerships

Since its inception in 2014, the VNA Foundation of Greater North Penn has proudly invested millions of dollars in grants to support nonprofit organizations dedicated to the health and well-being of people in the North Penn region. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the VNA Foundation typically made grants during two cycles each year, and provided funding in the form of General Operating, Program or Capacity Building grants. These grants were in addition to the VNA Foundation’s signature grant investment, the Abington Dental Access Grant program (a collaborative effort between Abington Jefferson Health and the Montgomery-Bucks Dental Society), as well as its ongoing support of the Bucks-Mont Collaborative for Health and Human Services (an association focused on forging partnerships and shared learning among both nonprofit and for-profit health and human service providers throughout our region).

To learn the history of the VNA Foundation’s support of Health Access, Basic Health Needs, Collaboration and Capacity Building programs over the years, review our Annual Summaries from past years, visit our page describing creative partnerships in Our Community, and, or watch our short commemorative 5-year Anniversary Video.

Annual Summaries

Annual Summary 2021-2022

View past Annual Summaries in our Archive.

Focusing on partnerships to promote access and equity

Our North Penn community saw enormous challenges through the pandemic, and we at the VNA Foundation stand united with those working to promote access to health and human services for all our North Penn residents, with respect, dignity and human compassion. We stand in solidarity with our nonprofit partners who have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects, on both health and economic stability, and in recognition of the fact that the pandemic has had disproportionate effects on our neighbors in communities of color and those experiencing poverty. We support those organizations committed to serving all in North Penn with a focus on those in our society who have been marginalized, oppressed, or discriminated against. The VNA Foundation re-worked its grant programs and increased its grant budget in 2021-22 in order to provide more General Operating support, multi-year funding, and shorter, more streamlined application/reporting processes, and to deliberately help to close the access-gap for people of color, immigrants/refugees, and English Language Learners.

Inclusion Grants: Enhancing Access for our Diverse Community

In 2021, the VNA Foundation launched Inclusion Grants, aimed at increasing access to health and human services for people of color, immigrants and refugees, and English Language Learners in the greater North Penn region. The Inclusion Grants were inspired by the health access inequities exposed (or exacerbated) by the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and racial injustice. Features of these grants included rolling application due-dates and decision-making, funding available for research to develop project ideas, ample technical assistance, and the option for multi-year support. To date, the VNA Foundation has committed grants of more than $640,000 to the Inclusion Grants program.

MAKING NORTH PENN COUNT

Supporting Census 2020
The VNA Foundation of Greater North Penn recognized that an undercount in Census 2020 would negatively impact public funding and vital programs necessary to support our quality of life in this North Penn region of Montgomery County. To ensure that nonprofit organizations could support efforts toward an accurate and complete count, especially within targeted, at-risk populations located in the North Penn region of Montgomery County, the VNA Foundation created a special Census Inclusion Grant program for our community.

Team Recognition Grants: A Tribute to Our Partners

When, in the summer of 2021, the VNAF had to cancel our in-person annual summer breakfast (the F. Lee Mangan CommUNITY Celebration) due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, we decided to use the money we would have spent on the breakfast event and divide it up among our 40+ current grantee partner agencies in the form of small Team Recognition grants to be used at their discretion to purchase a little treat for their hardworking teams. Our grantees got creative, using the mini-grants for everything from a team recognition lunch to a hybrid holiday party, providing much-needed bonding moments during an especially challenging time for nonprofit personnel.

Responding to the COVID Crisis

In the challenging year of 2020, to maximize flexibility for our partners struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine, the VNA Foundation converted all of its Spring grants to General Operating support, relaxed or waived application and reporting requirements, and increased its giving budget dramatically. We served as one of the founding partners of the MontCoPA COVID-19 Response Fund, both giving and fundraising to distribute more than $700,000 for our local providers. By the summer of 2020, the VNA Foundation launched its North Penn Unity Grants program in the summer of 2020, aimed at fast-tracking flexible funding to meet the needs of our heroic nonprofit partners, and distributing $300,000 in grants to North Penn nonprofits through that effort.