SSJHWF Grants

The Sisters of St. Joseph Health and Wellness Foundation employs a trust-based philanthropy model, fostering collaborative partnerships with organizations in West Virginia dedicated to supporting children's holistic health. This approach emphasizes primary and secondary prevention strategies while promoting systemic change through relationship building and mutual understanding. By prioritizing less restrictive funding and streamlined processes, the foundation seeks to empower organizations that align with its mission to create lasting impact in the community.

Our Approach- Trust-Based Philanthropy
The Sisters of St. Joseph Health and Wellness Foundation uses a 'trust-based' approach to grantmaking. Trust-based philanthropy is about redistributing power—systemically, organizationally, and interpersonally—in service of a healthier and more equitable nonprofit sector. On a practical level, this includes multi-year, less restrictive funding, streamlined applications and reporting, and a commitment to building relationships based on transparency, dialogue, and mutual learning. Rather than a formal application, we'll be setting up a coffee conversation with you to get to know your organization in a more meaningful way. If we move forward with funding, we see you as a collaborative partner, rather than a grantee.
Prioritizing Prevention- Going Upstream
Our Foundation prioritizes organizations and projects that are focused on primary and secondary prevention strategies.
Primary Prevention: interventions to prevent negative physical/mental health outcomes for whole-populations or a particular group.Secondary Prevention: focus on early detection and supports for those at higher risk for negative physical/mental health outcomes.
Promoting Systemic Change
Systemic Change has the potential of making a long range impact in changing unjust societal structures. The resulting change can be sustained beyond the initiative due to new webs of relationships that have been created between those with lived experience, practitioners who provide direct service, those who research, and those who advocate for policy changes.
We seek to partner with organizations that directly work or closely collaborate in all four of these spaces.

Eligibility

To determine if we're the right partner for you, you need to answer "yes" to the following questions:Is your organization serving children (prenatal-18 years old) and their families in WV?Does your organization focus on primary prevention efforts (interventions to prevent negative physical/mental health outcomes for whole-populations or particular groups) or secondary prevention efforts (focus on early detection and supports for those at higher risk for negative physical/mental health outcomes)?The partner agency is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or sponsored by such an organizationThe partner agency is located within the state of West Virginia.