Staff Report

Vidant Health wants to help people improve their health before they reach the point of having to be hospitalized. That’s why the organization supports the Community Benefit Grants Program by making a substantial annual donation to the Vidant Health Foundation. The Community Benefit Grants Program promotes outreach projects that focus on wellness, disease prevention and management. These programs help to remove transportation and financial barriers by providing services that are accessible to people in their communities.
Each Vidant Health hospital has its own grants program. The health-related focus areas each facility selects for its grants program is based on the community health needs assessments that are conducted in partnership with each hospital’s local health department. Each hospital also has its own grants review committee comprised of the hospital president or designee, medical professionals, hospital leadership and/or community benefit staff, as well as representatives from their local health department, from their local Healthy Carolinians Partnership or other health coalition, and community members.
Vidant Beaufort Hospital and Vidant Pungo Hospital are focusing on chronic disease prevention and management, access to care and nutrition and physical activity.
The goal of the Community Benefit Grants Program is to positively impact the health status of communities affiliated with Vidant Health through early detection, wellness and prevention, community health initiatives and direct health-care services. The Community Benefit Grants Program does the following:
• educates individuals about disease prevention and management;
• provides them with the knowledge and tools to be successful in their own health care;
• locates programs within communities, making them available and more accessible to people needing the programs/services.
Nonprofit organizations qualified for tax exemption under the Internal Revenue Service Code and government entities are eligible for funding in counties served by the program through a designated hospital’s grants program. A copy of the IRS letter of determination is required to be submitted along with the letter of intent.
Vidant Health hospitals participating in the program are accepting letters of intent from eligible entities through its online grant system only.
The foundation annually determines the need to issue a call for letters of intent. A call for letters of intent is typically issued in November or December of the current year, with the grant funding cycle beginning July 1 of the following year for a one-year period. The letter of intent will be advertised in a local newspaper for each of the Vidant Health hospitals.
A grants-review committee reviews the letters of intent to determine if the project meets the objectives and priorities of the Community Benefit Grants program. If the committee determines an organization’s letter of intent meets the objectives and priorities, the organization may be invited to submit a full application.
The committee evaluates the applications and makes recommendations to the foundation’s community benefit and appropriations committees. The appropriations committee will review the information presented and make its recommendations to the full Vidant Health Foundation Board of Trustees. The trustees then votes on the recommendations. An organization would subsequently be contacted with a letter of acceptance or denial.
For more information about the Community Benefit Grants Program or how to access the online grant system, call Kahla Hall at 252-847-0692 or via email at kahla.hall@vidanthealth.com.