Our foundation
Saints Healthcare Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, established in October 2008 through the merger of two long-standing foundations—St. Francis Foundation and St. Gertrude’s Foundation.
Like its predecessor foundations, Saints Healthcare Foundation will remain an associated foundation of the Benedictine Health System (BHS) Foundation and will exist to generate philanthropic support for two BHS-affiliated healthcare organizations that serve patients throughout Carver, Dakota, Hennepin and Scott Counties—St. Gertrude’s Health and Rehabilitation Center and St. Francis Regional Medical Center.
The Foundation will serve to match the passion and commitment of community donors and volunteers with the needs of these organizations in order to contribute to the quality of life throughout our regional community. More specifically, the Foundation will assemble philanthropic resources and make grants to St. Francis and St. Gertrude’s in order to:
- Speed the introduction of cutting edge technologies that improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
- Expand innovative, patient-centered healthcare programs and services.
- Enhance the campus’ physical environment in ways that genuinely promote healing.
- Enrich support services that ease the burden of illness and disease for patients and their families.
- Support charity and mission-related care, which promotes community health and health care services for the poor and powerless.
Historically, St. Francis and St. Gertrude’s Foundations worked independently, assembling more than 22,500 community volunteers and $5 million in donations to meet community health needs.
Going forward, Saints Healthcare Foundation will leverage the unique strengths of each organization, while working together in a new, shared space that offers innovative, efficient and meaningful opportunities to advance the future of health care across the entire healthcare continuum—from the baby who takes her first breath in the St. Francis Birth Center to the elderly patient who takes his last breath in St. Gertrude’s Circle-of-Life Hospice Suite.
While Saints Healthcare Foundation represents a change in how we do business, what does not change is our unwavering commitment to provide a venue for you—the community philanthropist—to play a meaningful role in bringing the best possible healthcare to our families, neighbors and friends. As evidence of our commitment, 100% of donations to the Foundation’s defined priorities will be used to directly impact the cause you feel so passionately about.