The Michigan Health Endowment Fund is pleased to launch a new six-year Strategic Framework. While the framework is intended to be brief, clear, and straightforward, we also want to share the thinking and learning behind it.
Let’s start with context. We are the largest health foundation in Michigan, and we fund projects across the state. Despite our high volume of grants, the Health Fund is a relatively young organization. We made our first grants just over a decade ago and strive to remain highly adaptable.
This year, our state’s context has been dramatically altered by changes in federal policy that will impact Michiganders for years to come. At a time when we anticipate reduced public resources for the health-related needs of older adults and children, our mission gives us a clear, guiding focus by naming both populations as priorities.
In 2026, you’ll see that focus come through clearly in our framework and the structure of our grantmaking programs.
PRIORITIZING KIDS & OLDER ADULTS
Children and older adults have always been at the heart of our grantmaking. The most significant shift in our Strategic Framework is to align our work in children’s health through a new Healthy Kids program that mirrors our long-standing Healthy Aging program.
These programs — together with our Capacity Building initiative — will become our primary grantmaking platforms. Our eight focus areas — including behavioral health, food access, nutrition, physical activity, and more — remain important priorities in our work and will be integrated into this population-driven approach. Some of these changes will take effect immediately, while others will happen over time.
This will ensure our grantmaking is interconnected and focused on making the greatest possible difference for these populations, while enabling more flexibility to pivot when new and evolving needs emerge for kids or older adults.
BUILDING ON OUR HISTORY, LEARNING FROM OTHERS
Our new framework follows two prior strategic plans that helped us hone our structure, knowledge, and approaches to make positive impacts on Michiganders. Both our successes and failures from our first 10 years led to valuable insights that we are applying to our new framework.
We also know there’s much more to learn beyond our own walls. As we prepared for a new strategic direction, we engaged in a highly participatory, staff-driven research and development process.
Our team sought out a wide range of community, nonprofit, and foundation leaders, both within Michigan and nationally, to understand how their approaches, advice, and lessons from their work might be leveraged to increase our impact. We believe having our staff drive this process will lead to deeper and more durable results.
A LIVING PLAN
After nearly two years of research and planning, we’re presenting a relatively short and simple document. We believe there’s power in this simplicity. We want our framework to be accessible, straightforward, action-oriented, and centered on the communities we exist to serve.
Just as importantly, we want to leave space for continuous learning and evolution. This framework is a starting point, and we’ll report publicly every year on how we’re adapting it to changing times and new lessons learned.
Now, more than ever, it’s incumbent on the staff and board of the Health Fund to do everything we can to help Michiganders achieve better health. Our new framework represents our commitment to amplify our impact for years to come.
LEARN MORE
To learn more, join us for a webinar about our Strategic Framework at 10:00 a.m. (ET) on December 3, and look for our Healthy Aging and Healthy Kids Initiatives RFPs, launching in spring 2026. You can also email us with your questions at [email protected].