St. David's Foundation is one of the largest health foundations in the United States, providing over $70 million of direct funding to the community with an $80 million total community benefit impact annually in the five-county Central Texas area. The Foundation is anticipating growth of up to $100 million over the next few years.

Through a unique partnership with St. David's Healthcare, the Foundation reinvests proceeds from the hospital back into the community, with the goal of advancing health equity and improving the health and well-being of the most underserved populations in Central Texas. St. David's Healthcare itself is a partnership between the hospital management company HCA, St. David's Foundation, and Georgetown Health Foundation. Since the inception of this visionary partnership in 1996, more than $400 million have been given back to the community to improve the health and healthcare of people in Central Texas. The Foundation invests to solve the most pressing health challenges across its community, especially for those traditionally left out–the underserved and uninsured.

The Foundation believes that all Central Texans should have the opportunity to achieve optimal health. Health equity is achieved when it can no longer be predicted how healthy a person is–or will be–by their race, ethnicity, gender or zip code. All of the Foundation’s goals and principles are guided by a commitment to achieving health equity.

Access to high-quality medical care is essential to overall health. While some aspects of a person’s health depend on individual behavior and choice, approximately 80% of health is shaped by community-wide factors. Problems such as poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing, lack of public transportation, low educational attainment and neighborhood deterioration shape a person’s health. Many of these factors–economic, environmental, educational and behavioral–exist outside of the healthcare system and are the most influential drivers of health.

The Foundation is committed to taking a strengths-based approach to social services in which it listens to and trusts the communities it serves, and where it can work alongside grantees and partners to strengthen institutions that support health, such as strong safety net and specialty care clinics, while also prioritizing the other factors that contribute to health and well-being.

St. David's Foundation grantmaking is currently focused on the strategic goals of resilient children, healthy women and girls, older adults aging in place, thriving rural communities, and clinics as community hubs for health.

Along with grantmaking, St. David's Foundation focuses on learning and evaluation, and community engagement strategies that include a number of renowned programs such as mobile dental services, healthcare scholarships, and AgingWell, a program for aging adults and their caretakers.

The St. David's Foundation Dental Program operates the largest mobile dental program providing charity care in the country. This includes a fleet of nine mobile dental clinics operated in collaboration with local schools and community-based agencies to deliver free dental care to underserved children. In particular, this program offers free dental screenings, sealants and acute care to students at high-needs elementary schools within six Central Texas school districts. During the summer, the dental program visits safety net clinics to serve adults and families.

Each of these dental vans is equipped with two dental exam rooms, digital x-rays, and computer workstations. A team of dedicated dentists, hygienists and dental assistants not only address immediate needs, but also educate students and encourage dental hygiene habits to last a lifetime.

The St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarship provides financial support for area students pursuing healthcare careers. As the largest healthcare scholarship program in Texas, it has empowered hundreds of graduates from Central Texas high schools to take the next steps toward their desired professions and ensure the future of good health in underserved communities. St. David's Foundation understands that its mission relies heavily on the tireless work of talented, dedicated healthcare professionals, and counts on the next generation of physicians, nurses, dentists and lab technicians to carry the torch.

For nearly forty years, the Foundation has organized and led the annual series of spring Toast of the Town fundraiser events—one of the most popular series of philanthropic events in Austin—to help support the Neal Kocurek Scholarship program.

As Central Texas has one of the fastest-growing aging populations in the country, St. David's Foundation created AgingWell to address this population's growing needs. The mission is to bring together individuals and community partners to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers.

For more information on St. David's Foundation, please visit: https://stdavidsfoundation.org/.