Pittsburgh Foundation Basic Needs Grants: Physical Health

The Pittsburgh Foundation offers Basic Needs Grants focused on Physical Health to improve community well-being. Established in 1945, it prioritizes health equity by funding programs that address barriers to accessing quality healthcare. Grants aim to support low-income individuals, particularly BIPOC communities disproportionately affected by health disparities. The Foundation provides financial assistance for essential services including physical, dental, and mental health care, ensuring that all residents have equitable access to health resources.

Foundation-Directed Grantmaking
The Pittsburgh Foundation is committed to helping the communities we serve become equitable and vibrant places where everyone can thrive. We align our grantmaking with resident’s dreams for themselves, their families and their communities and prioritize support in the five focus areas: Basic Needs; Equity and Social Justice; Environmental Action; Arts and Culture; and Economic Mobility.
Duration: Generally, grants will be awarded for no more than two years due to limited availability of funds.
Amounts: One-year grants generally range from $10,000 to $75,000. Two-year grants will generally not exceed $150,000. Actual grant amounts are determined based on staff review of each individual application and consideration of the funding available at the time the application is received.
We seek to improve the stability of low-income people by supporting direct assistance to obtain food, housing, health care, mental health supports, child care, education and employment.
Hardships caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 have been deep and widespread, but for many people — especially those who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) — hardships predate the pandemic. As examples, one-in-five Pittsburghers is food-insecure, and there is a shortage of affordable housing and child care. When individuals and families can meet their basic needs, they experience less stress, which supports overall health and well-being.
Across our basic needs grantmaking, we are committed to expanding knowledge of, improving access to, and improving coordination among local resources and human services.
Physical health is critical for overall well-being and can be affected by social and structural determinants such as economic stability, social and built environment, and access to quality health care services. Health equity is a priority for the Foundation. Despite outreach efforts in community based care, improved treatment options and increased access to insurance, racial and economic disparities in health persist in Allegheny County. These disparities were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We aim to support the health needs of residents by ensuring access to high quality, affordable and culturally responsive physical health and health care services. Specifically, we are primarily interested in programs and services that:

• Ensure access to high quality, timely, affordable, physical, dental and visual primary health care services.

Increase health equity by reducing the social, financial, logistical and systemic barriers that prevent individuals and families from accessing care and produce disparate quality of life outcomes by race/ethnicity, gender/gender identity, (dis)ability, etc.

Eligibility

To qualify for a grant, your nonprofit organization must be:
Located within Allegheny County and/or primarily serve Allegheny County residents (unless otherwise specified in the grant criteria).Designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. (If your organization does not have 501(c)(3) status, you may apply utilizing a fiscal sponsor.)

Ineligibility

What We Do Not Fund
The Pittsburgh Foundation does not make grants to any organization not listed in Internal Revenue Code Section 170(b)(1)(A), including private non-operating foundations or any “disqualified supporting organizations” as defined in Internal Revenue Code Section 4966(d) (4).Organizational start-up support.Statewide or national organizations, unless they have an established local office or chapter that meets the above eligibility criteria and priorities.Projects that expressly advocate for or endorse a specific candidate for elected office.Annual appeals or event sponsorships.Episodic and/or one-time programs and events.Capital expenses and/or campaigns.Direct funding for individuals (except individual artists).Payments on organizational debt.Costs and activities that are completed before a requested grant has received a decision from our board.University overhead costs.Single-disease support organizations.Educational scholarships. Academic research.