The Kansas Health Foundation (KHF) is a nonprofit organization based in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, U.S., but is statewide in its focus and grantmaking abilities. Its mission is to improve public health and wellness throughout

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. Through grantmaking, the foundation works to "improve the health of all Kansans by promoting health and wellness in schools, neighborhoods and workplaces; to grow leaders in communities; inspire decision makers; and act as a voice for healthy public policy in Kansas for generations.""About Us" section
Kansas Health Foundation official website, retrieved 2015-08-01 The KHF (originally the Wesley Medical Endowment Foundation) has shifted from its original focus on medical cures, instead switching predominantly towards preventive solutions for public health. It uses a wide range of approaches. For instance, it has funded warm clothing for schoolchildren, currently funds public health research and data, and attempts to develop future civic and healthcare leaders."History"
"About Us" section, Kansas Health Foundation official website, retrieved 2015-08-01 With over $500 million in net assets, the KHF is one of the nation's wealthiest such foundations.

History

In 1985, the Wesley Medical Center, in Wichita, Kansas, one of Kansas' largest hospitals, was sold to the for-profit

Hospital Corporation of America HCA Healthcare is an American for-profit operator of health care facilities that was founded in 1968. It is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and, as of May 2020, owns and operates 186 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care, including sur ...

(HCA) by the hospital's founder/owner, the Kansas West Conference of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

. The sale’s profits ($265 million) were used to fund two organizations focused on improving health in Kansas:"Trustees approve Wesley sale"
''Salina Journal,'' February 6, 1985, p.7 * United Methodist Health Ministry Fund"History"
official website of the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund and * Wesley Medical Endowment Foundation, which became the Kansas Health Foundation (KHF) Over the years, the foundation has helped start the: *

Kansas Health Institute Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...

, in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...

, which provides health data to policymakers, * Tobacco-Free Kansas Coalition, in Topeka, which campaigns against tobacco consumption in Kansas, * Kansas Leadership Center, in Wichita, which provides leadership training for Kansas civic activists. The KHF has partnered with over 40 other Kansas

community foundations Community foundations (CFs) are instruments of civil society designed to pool donations into a coordinated investment and grant making facility dedicated primarily to the social improvement of a given place. Community foundations are a global pheno ...

, organizations and programs, largely to help fund and promote health and wellness improvement efforts throughout the state. In 1997, the KHF focused more specifically on children's health. Partnering with the state's largest advertising agency, Sullivan, Higdon, Sink, the KHF developed the "Take It Outside" campaign to urge adults to avoid smoking in homes and buildings where children are present.Wichita foundation spends millions to focus Kansans on healthy children
1997-09-21, ''Wichita Business Journal'' The KHF later became heavily involved with Kansas state government, and universities, and local governments in Kansas—particularly through the joint Kansas Public Health Workforce Development Coordinating Council —to fund, develop and coordinate public health workforce training through various educational methodologies, delivery methods and opportunities. Examples have included:Thompson, Lori, Workforce Development Specialist, Kansas Assn. of Local Health Departments and the Local Health Program, Kansas Dept. of Health & Environment (KDHE), State of Kansas
"Public Health Council Focuses on Workforce Development"
''PUBLIC HEALTH CONNECTIONS'' newsletter, November - 2014 Volume 14, Issue 11, Bureau of Community Health Systems, KDHE *Kansas Public Health Grand Rounds ( continuing education programs and

webinar Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of the peer-l ...

s for Kansas physicians), operated with funding from the KHFKansas Public Health Grand Rounds"
Fall 2014 Series, Revised: 8/12/14, University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC)Kansas Public Health Grand Rounds"
Spring 2015 Series, Revised: 8/12/14, University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) * The Masters in Public Health (M.P.H.) degree program at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

and other Kansas universities, developed with the assistance of the KHF (including $1.8 million in 2008). * The Nurse Practitioner degree and certification program at Kansas universities, developed with KHF assistance. * The "One Health Kansas" program, to help manage the health risks and effects of the health interrelationships between people, animals and the environment (including diseases transmitted from plants and animals to people, emerging

zoonotic diseases A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human ...

, effects of

human migration Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region). The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another (ex ...

and

global trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant s ...

)—developed in 2008 by Kansas State University with over $2 million in funding from the KHF.One Health Kansas
, Kansas State University at Olathe, retrieved Aug. 2, 2015.K-State MPH Faculty Advisory Council Minutes
November 9, 2012, Masters in Public Health program, Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine In 2014, the KHF—operating through its KHF Fellows program—began looking into the links between mental illness and tobacco-related death, asserting that 26% of Kansas smokers suffered from some sort of mental illness.Gnadinger, Tracy
"A Foundation Examines Tobacco Use Among Those With Serious Mental Illness,"
July 2, 2014, GrantWatch, ''Health Affairs Blog,''

Financial portfolio and management

With an initial $200 million endowment to focus on improving the health of all Kansans, the KHF quickly became one of the 40 largest grantmaking foundations in the United States, and it ranked as one of the top 10 U.S. healthcare foundations. Growing from the original $200 million endowment, the foundation reportedly had $440 million in assets in 2010, to $469 million in assets by the end of 2012. Assets topped $475 million, by May 2013, ultimately reaching $519 million in net assets in 2013,http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/KS/Kansas-Health-Foundation.html making the foundation the largest philanthropic entity in the state, according to KHI Pres. Steven Coen, and making it one of the nation's wealthiest such foundations, according to its official website. The foundation funds programs with the interest earned from investments of the original endowment, preserving it as a perpetual funding source. In 2012, it issued over $22.9 million in grants, and by then it had issued over $500 million in grants since its origins in 1985.

Key people

The foundation is led by President and CEO Steve Coen and Board of Director Chairwoman Commissioner Shelly Buhler.

Facilities

KHF operates out of its custom-built $9-million downtown multi-story glass building at 309 E. Douglas, in Wichita, Kansas (zip 67202), since the building's completion in 2013. The facility is shared with some of the KHF's affiliate entities, including the Kansas Leadership Center.

Outcomes

Little clear and detailed information is readily available online about the correlation between Kansas health changes and KHF-backed programs.

General health

Citing the website America’s Health Rankings (an annual report published by major philanthropic organizations and health groups), the KHF concedes that Kansas fell from the 8th to the 27th healthiest state in the country, during the years 1991 through 2014, when KHF programs were well underway.

Children

According to the ''2014 KIDS COUNT Data Book,'' by the Annie E. Casey Foundation—the leading reference on child health and welfare in the U.S.—Kansas ranked 15th among the 50 states in overall child well-being."Kansas and the Annie E. Casey Foundation"
''Kids Count Data Book'', 2014, Annie E. Casey Foundation (NOTE: Earlier data was not readily available).

Smoking and tobacco use

Tobacco use (particularly cigarette smoking) is Kansas' top cause of preventable death and disease, with one of every five Kansas adults smoking cigarettes. However, the KHF largely blames this on decisions by Kansas legislators and governors to underfund tobacco prevention, making Kansas (in 2013) 41st in the nation for per-capita spending on tobacco prevention. In 2013, the federal government's

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

(CDC) recommended that states spend $32.1 million annually on tobacco prevention, but Kansas was only funding such programs at $946,671 per year, despite collecting a combined $154.3 million in 2013 from the settlement and tobacco taxes. Critics cite Kansas politicians' decisions to divert the state's share of the tobacco lawsuit settlement away from tobacco-use prevention and mitigation towards completely unrelated activity, particularly to plug shortfalls in the state budget and facilitate tax cuts.Bruce, Giles
Anti-tobacco advocates say Kansas has underfunded smoking prevention
December 9, 2013, ''Lawrence Journal-World'' Kansas Department of Health and Education former spokeswoman Miranda Steele has countered that the state's high-school smoking rate (at 14%, below the nationwide average of 18%) is below the smoking rates of neighboring states, including some which spend more, per person, on tobacco prevention.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Medical and health organizations based in Kansas