A word from our CEO | Thank You Applicants | Match Day Grant Award Winners ImpactingTheir Communities | Mental Health First Aid Partner of the Year | Practicing What We Preach: A Hands-On Approach to Giving Back | Join Us for Month of Impact | Face the Fight™ Shows Measurable Impact in Veteran Suicide Prevention | Humana Atop Fair360 Philanthropy Rankings | Associate Spotlight | Partner Highlight: Big Brothers Big Sistersof America | Resources
A Word From Our CEO, Tiffany Benjamin
Happy Summer and healthy wishes from the Humana Foundation!
As we start summer, please remember to stay safe and connected to others. For any season, engaging with people where you live, work, worship and play, will positively affect your daily living and help you achieve your best health. As the summer heats up, check out this link for tips on staying cool, hydrated, and safe.
Speaking of healthy wishes, I’d like to thank and congratulate Humana’s outgoing CEO, Bruce Broussard, as he transitions to his next chapter of impact.
For over a decade, Bruce has evolved Humana’s strategy while expanding access to affordable, equitable care. I have always admired Bruce’s approach in keeping the people you serve at the center of everything you do. Bruce advanced this approach in his service to the Humana Foundation. During Bruce’s tenure as CEO, he spent time serving as board chair of the Humana Foundation. Bruce will continue his board service to the Foundation and we’re excited to continue to advance health equity, together.
A year ago, and in partnership with USAA, the Humana Foundation joined a movement and coalition of corporations, foundations and organizations, to stop veteran suicide. Since launching Face the Fight in June 2023, the initiative has grown to include 170 coalition members from across the country. To learn more about this important initiative, go to wefacethefight.org. There’s a wealth of information to get help and join the fight.
In May, the Humana Foundation team embarked on a strategic visit to Miami, Florida. During the visit, we enjoyed listening to local partners and met with Humana employees. In addition, we spent an amazing morning at Senior Planet Miami, the first technology-themed community center for older adults in the area. Our great partner, Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) from AARP, recently opened the center to offer older adults technology training and social activities in a modern and inclusive setting. It was so exciting to see this model in action and to roll up our sleeves and assist visitors. See more about this visit in the coming pages.
Finally, as the Humana Foundation continues its journey and commitment to advance health equity, I’m proud to share we were honored as the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Partner of the Year by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. We are so pleased to receive this honor- a signal, that our focus to eliminate mental health disparities and inequities is headed in the right direction. So, the work continues, and we can’t secure significant outcomes without partners and communities like you.
--Tiffany Benjamin
CEO, Humana Foundation
Thank you, applicants!
The Humana Foundation extends a wholehearted “thank you” to each organization that submitted an application for our grant cycles. We are truly thankful for your time and effort in sharing your projects.
We are in the process of reviewing proposals and ensuring each project receives a thorough evaluation. We will continue the process over the next several weeks to finalize our selection of awarded grants.
Stay tuned to our website and social media as we’ll highlight stories and meaningful impact in our pursuit of advancing our mission of helping veterans, seniors and school-aged children live connected, healthy lives.
Match Day Grant Award Winners ImpactingTheir Communities
The Humana Foundation hosted its “Match Madness” Double Match Day event on March 5, 2024, to offer employees the opportunity to maximize their impact in their communities. Employees who donated during Match Madness received a 2-for-1 match up to an annual limit for their contributions to eligible nonprofits and were also entered to win one of 11 grants for further donation to a nonprofit(s) of choice.
Almost 2,000 employees contributed to a variety of great causes, and with the Humana Foundation's double match, the total contribution to nonprofits on Double Match Day exceeded $800,000.
The 11 grants were awarded as 10 $25,000 grants and a grand prize of a $50,000 grant to give to eligible nonprofits of choice. The grant winners had truly heartwarming reactions when they learned of their prize, and we are honored to share a brief audio compilation of a few of the reactions. You can listen to the reactions here.
The 11 grant winners were as follows:
$25,000 Grant Winners: Harold Butler Jr, Denise Delo, Marian Myers Griffin, Victoria Ramos, Robert Ranzau, Kelsey Schneider, Marlene Speaker, Lynn Westberg, Lichuan Yang, Helga Zagmeister.
$50,000 Grant Winner: Michael Ehlers.
Mental Health First Aid Partner of the Year
The Humana Foundation was honored as the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) “Partner of the Year” by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing at the 2024 MHFA Summit.
This acknowledgement is a part of Mental Health First Aid’s Impact Award series and celebrates the remarkable contributions of partners who have helped advance MHFA’s mission.
The Humana Foundation was presented the award after granting its Health Equity Innovation Fund to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing to develop an Adult MHFA community implementation toolkit.
Practicing What We Preach: A Hands-On Approach to Giving Back
A commitment to giving back starts with me and I am blessed to have the opportunity to give back at work, in my role with the Humana Foundation, and in my personal endeavors. I’m committed to helping the young people in my community reach their full potential and as a longtime board member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana, I continually fulfill my passions and commitment.
The Humana Foundation is committed to advancing health equity by eliminating unjust, avoidable and unnecessary barriers in health and healthcare. One way we do this is by providing grants to organizations and researchers working to achieve health equity for seniors, school-aged children and veterans. While this is an important and critical part of our work, I also find volunteering and being on the ground in the communities we serve particularly meaningful.
Older Adults Technology Services (OATS). Earlier this month, the Humana Foundation team visited the OATS Senior Planet center in Miami and volunteered to answer technology questions posed by seniors. During the pandemic, the Humana Foundation awarded a $3 million grant to OATS from AARP to connect seniors, particularly those in marginalized communities, to the internet. Since then, that partnership has evolved to produce a comprehensive research report, Fly Like an Eagle: Measuring Transformational Social Outcomes Among Seniors Using Technology, which found that digital training can significantly decrease feelings of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Connecting with the seniors during our time in Miami and helping to improve their digital literacy helped underscore why this work is so important.
Dare to Care Food Bank Community Kitchen. Last year, the Humana Foundation provided a $1.8 million grant to Dare to Care to close gaps in access to nutritious food for seniors in Louisville. The Humana Foundation team rolled up its sleeves to volunteer at Dare to Care’s Food Distribution Center, where we prepped food for delivery to be taken directly to people in need in the community. Lack of access to nutritious foods can limit older adults’ ability to work, carry on with daily activities, manage chronic conditions and live independently, underscoring the importance of closing the gaps in access to healthy meals.
Since 2019, Humana employees have volunteered more than 1.3 million hours in their communities. Interacting with the communities we serve and volunteering with the organizations we’ve partnered with have been incredibly meaningful in seeing the impact on the unmet needs we’re working to address.
To learn more about our employee volunteering benefits, click here.
Join Us for Month of Impact
Humana Inc. and the Humana Foundation are excited to announce, “Month of Impact,” a month-long initiative from Aug. 21 – Sept. 21 to make a substantial positive impact in our communities.
Through a combination of monetary donations to nonprofits, food drives and volunteer hours, we aim to achieve $10 million in community impact.
If you or your organization is interested in helping, download this how-to guide to create a volunteer opportunity and connect with people who can join your initiative. You can also email the Humana Foundation for questions or additional information.
Face the Fight™ Shows Measurable Impact in Veteran Suicide Prevention
SAN ANTONIO – Face the Fight™ has released its first annual impact report demonstrating the effect that organizations and nonprofits together can have on saving veteran lives through suicide prevention efforts. The report also shares the initiative’s founding story and how the supporting research and insights led to the approach.
Launched in June 2023 by founding partners USAA, Reach Resilience and the Humana Foundation, Face the Fight has made strides by bringing together like-minded organizations to help reduce veteran suicide through a multi-pronged approach that includes charitable giving, public education and awareness.
More than $85 million has been pledged through 2027 from the founding partners and many other private organizations and donors. Through the first round of grantmaking, participating organizations have shown early impact by: Screening nearly 15,000 veterans for suicide risk, providing more than 5,000 veterans with suicide-specific interventions, training 130 mental health clinicians to deliver suicide-specific treatments, training over 140 mental health clinicians and peers to talk with veterans about voluntary, safe and secure storage of firearms at times of distress and providing 10 new expert, national trainers in suicide-specific treatment.
Humana Atop Fair360 Philanthropy Rankings
Humana Inc. -- and by extension, as the philanthropic arm of the enterprise, the Humana Foundation -- has been recognized as a Fair360 Top 15 company for Philanthropy.
In 2023, the Foundation donated more than $5.3 million to creating healthy emotional connections for seniors, school-aged kids and veterans through partnerships and initiatives that address loneliness and prevent suicide, invested $6.5 million to remove barriers to health for underserved and diverse populations and contributed to Humana’s collective $8.9 million of in-kind value from volunteer hours of all Humana and CenterWell employees.
ASSOCIATE SPOTLIGHT
Tara Gilbert
Tenure at Humana: 6 years, 9 months
Current Position: Senior, Workforce Management
Location: Ohio
Tara’s Initiative:
Tara organized fundraising efforts for her son’s school with initiatives combining to raise more than $80,000 with more than 300 volunteers. With the funds and volunteer hours, the school sponsored wellness challenge prizes, designed indoor recess kits, improved the library and built a new swing set that gave children with special needs the same opportunity as other children to swing at recess.
Partner Highlight: Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
BACKGROUND: Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) helps children realize their potential and build their futures by creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the promise of youth.
THE NEWS: The Humana Foundation partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters to launch a program in which BBBS will engage local-based affiliates to design, develop, measure, train and authenticate projects used for mental health initiatives. The three-year investment began with BBBS training 1,000 mentors and staff across specific regions in Florida during the first year of the program.
WHY IT MATTERS:
- The program addresses the need for mental health services for children, specifically by launching an app that delivers daily wellness curriculum focused on recognizing and addressing signs of depression and loneliness in youth.
- Programming kicked off with BBBS’s annual youth summit, which introduced hundreds of BBBS staff, mentors and families in the program to the new Mental Health Challenge curriculum.
WHAT’S NEXT: Big Brothers Big Sisters will analyze the pilot program to measure outcomes from mentors, including completion rate of training, increase in knowledge of mental health and services, and the likelihood mentors will use practices learned in training in settings with their “littles.” The program is also expected to expand into Louisville, KY, New Orleans and Texas (Houston and Austin) over the second and third years of the investment.
“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
-- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Philanthropy Resources
Resource for Parents of School-Aged Children
Resource for Veterans
Resource for Seniors
Additional Resources
