Health Care Fund

The Health Care Fund harkens to the very beginnings of Marion Community Foundation. In 1998, Marion Community Foundation was initially funded by the sale of the assets of the former MedCenter Hospital. Community health care and access to health care programs and services has, consequently, always been a major component of Marion Community Foundation’s work.

It is historically accurate to state that the Mary Elizabeth Foundation, which was created in 1957 to honor the mother of Dr. Frederick Smith and Dr. Phillip Smith and support the then newly formed Community Memorial Hospital, became the Ohio MedCenter Foundation, which became Marion Community Foundation.

A portion of Marion Community Foundation’s initial assets created the Health Care Fund to generate grants in support of health-related projects in the community. At the time, and for many years thereafter, the Health Care Fund was the single largest in the Foundation’s portfolio; it remains one of the top five.

As a field of interest fund, the Health Care Fund supports a broad definition of health-related needs in the community, as determined by the Board of Directors. Unrestricted funds allow the Foundation to identify pressing community needs as they arise and respond to meet those needs, today and tomorrow.