HMSA Foundation

At HMSA Foundation, we believe that health is more than just avoiding sickness. Health in Hawai?i is a positive notion of building connection to people and place, much of which happens within our communities. We also believe that as a foundation, we must change the way philanthropy engages with communities. We value building relationships based on trust and reciprocity, eliminating the restrictions and burdens on our nonprofit partners, and fundamentally shifting the power to communities. With these values and practices in mind, HMSA Foundation embarked on a five-year funding strategy to partner with 10 nonprofit organizations committed to addressing the deeper roots of creating health in Hawai?i. Together, we are learning, sharing, growing, and working together to redefine health in Hawai?i. Foundation History HMSA has been a part of the Hawai?i community since 1938 when teachers and social workers created the organization as a way to take care of each other. Expanding that commitment to Hawai?i’s people, the HMSA Foundation was established as a public charity in 1986. The Foundation began making grants in 1998, after HMSA established a $20 million endowment to fund wider investments in the health care system and activities that build healthy communities and prevent disease. In its history, the Foundation has partnered with local and national organizations to better understand Hawai?i’s diverse population and to expand service to previously uninsured individuals in Hawai?i. Funding initiatives have included targeting obesity, strengthening children’s health, helping our kupuna, and uplifting our Native Hawaiian community as ways to support the wellbeing of the place and people of Hawai?i.