The Sisters Health Foundation has two major grant programs, the Responsive Grant Program and the Basic Needs/Direct Service Grants Program.

General Eligibility for All Grant Programs

  • To apply, an applicant must be a tax-exempt nonprofit under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a public institution.
  • The project or strategy will positively impact residents in one or more counties of our service area:
    West Virginia: Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wirt, Wood
    Ohio: Athens, Meigs, Washington
  • The funding request advances healthy eating, active living; thriving neighborhoods; or mental health and addiction in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

However, we are unable to make grants to:

  • Endowment funds
  • Individuals
  • Organizations seeking retroactive funding for projects that have been completed or will be complete prior to the grant decision date;
  • Organizations seeking capital improvement funding for leased or rented facilities
  • Organizations that engage in proselytizing as part of their mission or programs

Applicants may only apply once in a 12-month period for either the Basic Needs/Direct Service or Responsive grants programs.

Grant Cycles and Deadlines

The Sisters Health Foundation has two grant cycles per year, fall and spring. For both grant programs, materials should be submitted online no later than midnight on the deadline date.
Basic Needs/Direct Service Grant Program Deadlines
Responsive Grant Program Deadlines

Priority Areas for All Grant Programs

Healthy Eating, Active Living

We support projects and strategies that prevent or manage chronic health conditions by promoting healthy eating and active living through one or more of the following:

  • Education about the health benefits of a healthy weight, good nutrition, and physical activity
  • Efforts that encourage and support behavior change
  • Environmental changes that make healthy choices the easy choices
  • Increased access and distribution of healthy foods
  • Promotion and provision of opportunities for increased physical activity
  • Coalition and cross-sector collaboration that promotes healthy eating and active living through policy or programmatic change

Thriving Neighborhoods

We support projects and strategies that address improving neighborhood conditions where people live, learn, work, and play so that everyone has the ability to achieve their full health potential by:

  • Improving the accessibility, affordability, and quality of health and health care
  • Improving access to reliable transportation options so people can reach needed health and social services
  • Improving access to stable and safe housing to foster a healthy living environment
  • Supporting efforts to increase connections to community resources and to one another to foster an environment of social connectedness and belonging
  • Improving access to high-quality early childhood programs including in-home programs designed to improve maternal and child health, parenting skills, and child development as well as programs supporting the health and well-being of the preK-12 student population
  • Supporting coalition and cross-sector collaboration that improves neighborhood conditions and advances policy or programmatic change

Mental Health and Addiction

We support projects and strategies that address mental health and/or addiction. Related to mental health, we are interested in the area of health promotion and prevention. Related to addiction, we are interested in the areas of prevention, early intervention, and recovery support. We are especially interested in evidence-based programs focused on:

  • Prevention activities such as education and stigma reduction of mental health and substance use disorders; trauma-informed care practices and supportive environments in schools, churches, workplaces, and other community settings; and provision of mental health services in schools and school-based health clinics
  • Early intervention activities such as identifying and reducing individual risk factors for substance use, improving connections to needed services across various systems, and harm reduction efforts to reduce the number of deaths and the spread of disease
  • Building the behavioral health workforce, including peer support specialists/peer recovery supporters, supporting high school and college pipeline programming, and encouraging careers in behavioral health
  • Supporting people in recovery with positive supports such as housing, connections to employment, and transportation
  • Coalition and cross-sector collaboration that advances policy or programmatic change

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