California Wellness Foundation

OUR VISION For every resident of California to enjoy good health and experience wellness. OUR MISSION To protect and improve the health and wellness of the people of California by increasing access to health care, quality education, good jobs, healthy environments and safe neighborhoods. OUR WORK - We use our resources to advance our mission through grantmaking, investments, sharing our learning and lifting our voice. - We fund direct services that address the urgent needs people are facing in their communities, particularly the needs of low-income individuals, people of color, youth and residents of rural areas. - We recognize, encourage and strengthen leaders to be powerful agents of change. - We support advocacy and civic engagement so that communities can build power and create public policies that reflect their vision, will and needs. - We trust and invest in nonprofit organizations so that they can operate at full capacity. - We partner with community-led organizations, philanthropic organizations, businesses, government and individuals who want to improve health and wellness for Californians. OUR BELIEFS - We believe health is a human right. - We believe that everyone, regardless of race, gender, education, economic position or legal status, should have the opportunity to enjoy good health and experience wellness. - We believe wellness is more than health. Wellness touches upon the potential for healing that encompasses body, mind and spirit and honors the human desire for justice, equity and voice. - We believe wellness requires social justice, a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and sustained efforts to eliminate systemic barriers that prevent access to health care, education, employment and safety. - We believe in solid research and human stories: data to spotlight the gaps in opportunity and help us understand our impact and the real experiences of Californians to help us understand what’s working and what’s not. - We believe we must be courageous and use our voice to speak out and support others championing wellness for everyone. - We believe we must adapt and respond to the emerging needs of communities, to changing social and political realities, and to new opportunities by being willing to innovate with new tools and technologies as we fulfill our mission. OUR STORY The big moments in our foundation’s life. When we began grantmaking in 1992, we were California’s largest health conversion foundation. Why? In part, because activists fought for a fairly valued endowment when Health Net converted from a nonprofit to a for-profit insurance plan. Over the years, we have taken on some of the most contentious issues of our time, all focused on advancing health and wellness for underserved people. Our earliest efforts connected public health and gun violence prevention, and supported teen pregnancy prevention, healthy working conditions and place-based grantmaking that took a broader view of health. With $1 billion in assets, we are one of California’s largest public health philanthropic institutions. We award approximately $43 million annually in grants and program-related investments that promote health equity, justice and advocacy for communities and individuals whose lives and wellness are too often determined by their race, income, immigration status or where they live. Throughout our 30-year history, we have played a leadership role in promoting violence prevention as a public health issue and are one of the nation’s leading philanthropic voices in funding gun violence prevention efforts. We launched initiatives to advance the health of Black women, particularly those with HIV-AIDS and formerly incarcerated women experiencing challenges to reentry.