Address: 3409 Moore Street, Richmond, VA 23230
Phone: 804-330-7400
Web: www.cfrichmond.org
Email: info@cfrichmond.org
The Jenkins Foundation was established as a supporting organization of the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond upon the sale of Retreat Hospital in 1995, and the Jenkins Board is currently celebrating 30 years of service. The Foundation is named for Annabella Ravenscroft Jenkins, a 19th century pioneer who established Retreat for the Sick with the assistance of other remarkable Richmond women who shared her concern about the health care needs of the underserved. Their effort provided health care on a sliding fee basis and free care to those who could not pay, regardless of class, race, or religion. Today, the Jenkins Foundation is led by a volunteer board of women from diverse backgrounds who work together to embody that same spirit of compassion in addressing modern day challenges.
The mission of the Jenkins Foundation is to improve the well-being of all people in the greater Richmond, Virginia region and reduce health disparities through informed, strategic, and impactful philanthropy. It pursues opportunities that can help expand access to high-quality, community-based health services in the greater Richmond region, especially for those who are uninsured or underinsured.
Program Information:
The Jenkins Foundation envisions a healthy community with equitable access to healthcare and strives to stay informed and responsive to community needs, and the Foundation’s grantmaking priorities have evolved over time in that spirit. The Foundation’s grantmaking priorities currently fall under three focus areas: primary health care, mental health care, and substance use disorder treatment services.
Financial Information:
Total Assets: $65 million (FY24)
Amount Dedicated to Health-Related Grant: $2.6 million (FY24)
Special Initiatives and/or Representative Health and Human Services Grants
- Health Brigade – to support the costs of providing primary care, mental health, and education services to vulnerable populations who are uninsured or underinsured in the Greater Richmond Metropolitan Area. ($80,000)
- Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center – to provide culturally appropriate and linguistically specific mental health services to Latino victims of violence, helping them stabilize their lives and overcome barriers to care. ($25,000)
- Atlantic Outreach Group – to support Fresh Start, a transitional housing program that serves as a precursor to sustainable independent living for homeless individuals with substance use and mental health barriers. ($25,000)
- Urban Baby Beginnings—to fund programmatic support for maternal health hubs in Central Virginia to include expanded bilingual care coordination services for teens and adults who are pregnant or postpartum. ($50,000)
- Virginia Funders Network & Institute for Public Health Innovation—to support a collaborative project to analyze local data and identify key health equity priorities and create a blueprint for the RVA Health & Racial/Ethnic Equity Funders Group to collectively focus their philanthropy to address those priorities. ($25,000)
Jenkins Foundation and GIH
Joining GIH this year has provided a valuable resource for the Jenkins Board to learn from a nationwide network of peers sharing relevant, applicable information and best practices through a health-specific lens. Several Board members attended the GIH Annual Conference and came back inspired and full of ideas on new ways to support nonprofit partners beyond only grantmaking, especially during uncertain times. While it may not always be feasible to scale up funding to meet growing community needs, foundations can help in other powerful ways like convening coalitions, capacity building, and storytelling.
GIH’s ongoing year-round resources also help the Jenkins Foundation stay informed. For example, the Health Policy Update emails serve as a convenient, central source of information to stay on the pulse of many rapidly changing policies and their potential implications in our communities.
Strategic Changes in Grantmaking Direction/Orientation for the Organization
“Health equity is not achieved by philanthropy alone. Guided by the vision of our all-female volunteer Board, the Jenkins Foundation is proud to collaborate with community partners and grantees by investing in relationships, resilience, and equitable access to care across the Greater Richmond, Virginia region. A recent example is our partnership in Boost 200, a workforce development initiative led by the Virginia Health Care Foundation. Through shared learning and collective investment with local funders, we have helped expand licensure opportunities for behavioral health counselors—strengthening our region’s pipeline of mental health professionals and improving access to care for our community.”
–Vineeta Shah, Board Chair