Humana Foundation Selects New Orleans, Knoxville and Fort Lauderdale for 2015 Humana Communities Benefit $350,000 Charitable Grant Program

The Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc., has selected Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Knoxville, Tenn., and New Orleans as the 2015 communities for the company's Humana Communities Benefit program.

Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations that aim to transform their communities by lowering barriers to health and well-being—and whose specific focus or overall efforts address diabetes and/or congestive heart failure—are encouraged to apply for the multi-year charitable grant totaling $350,000.

"Humana's goal is to improve the health of the communities we serve by making it easy for people to achieve their best health, and preventing diabetes and congestive heart failure is critical to that mission," said Virginia Kelly Judd, executive director of the Humana Foundation. "Humana and the Humana Foundation carefully considered the cities where we wanted to offer the Humana Communities Benefit program this year. We look forward to identifying outstanding nonprofit partners that are helping to reduce the impact of low health literacy, poor health behaviors, and lack of access to services and support. These grants are intended to help close the gap between people and care, leading to improved health and well-being for the community."

Winners will use the Humana Foundation grant to create new programs or enhance ongoing activities that have a positive, transformational impact on the organization and the community.

Last year, the Humana Foundation relaunched the program, awarding nonprofits in Tampa Bay, Chicago and San Antonio a total of $350,000 each over a three-year period. Recipients receive $200,000 the first year, $100,000 the second year and $50,000 the third year. Since the Humana Communities Benefit charitable giving program was introduced in 2003, the Humana Foundation has awarded nearly $9 million to nonprofits in 12 communities nationwide.

Call for Entries

For the first time, nonprofits will be required to submit a letter of intent outlining what their organization would achieve with the funding over the three-year period. The letter must also explain how the initiative aligns with the overall goals of the Humana Communities Benefit program, which include lessening the negative impact of diabetes and/or congestive heart failure on community health and well-being, lowering barriers to health, and increasing access to services that improve health outcomes. After the letters of intent are reviewed by the Humana Foundation, organizations will receive an invitation to complete a detailed application.

501(c)(3) organizations in the Knoxville, New Orleans and Fort Lauderdale areas are encouraged to review the request for proposals and submit their letter of intent by Friday, May 29. Eligible counties/parishes include:

• Humana Communities Benefit - Fort Lauderdale - Broward County
• Humana Communities Benefit - Knoxville - Anderson, Blount, Cumberland, Knox, Loudon, Roane and Sevier counties
• Humana Communities Benefit - New Orleans - Orleans, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, St. James, Plaquemines, Washington and Tangipahoa parishes

The timeline for this year's charitable grant program in the three communities is as follows:

• Letter of Intent Deadline: May 29
• Application Deadline: June 30
• Judging: August
• Online Community Vote: August
• Grant Recipients Announced: September

The online community vote was introduced to the Humana Communities Benefit program in 2014 and allows the community to weigh in on which organization in each community it feels is most deserving of the $350,000 grant. Voting is based upon a video and short narrative submitted by the three finalists in each city and takes place at HumanaHCBVote.com. The online community vote accounts for a portion of the finalists' total score in the final judging process.

For more information, visit www.humana.com.