Address: 4100 Okemos Road, Okemos, MI 48864
Web: www.deltadental.foundation
Email: ddf@deltadentalmi.com
The Delta Dental Foundation (DDF) is a nonprofit, charitable organization established in 1980, which serves as the philanthropic arm of Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina. The DDF is dedicated to developing and enhancing partnerships and programs to improve health equity in oral and overall health
Program Information:
For many people, especially communities historically or systemically exposed to inequities, simply having access to a dentist is not enough to achieve good oral health. What they need are fair and just opportunities—and all the resources therein—to live their best, healthiest lives, no matter who they are or where they come from.
The DDF envisions a world where everyone has access to high-quality dental care that meets their comfort level and abilities across the lifespan. To make that happen, the DDF aligned its grantmaking under five strategic aims—access to care, advocacy, education, emerging initiatives, and workforce development—with oral health equity for people with disabilities as its cornerstone.
For many non-disabled, neurotypical people, it’s easy to practice good oral hygiene by brushing twice a day, flossing, and regularly visiting a dentist. However, those same hygiene habits can become mountains to overcome for some people with disabilities, whether because of sensory preferences, a lack of fine-motor control, extreme anxiety, an inability to open one’s mouth, or any number of other challenges. These barriers to accessing oral health care have led to much higher rates of dental disease for people with disabilities compared to the general population. This is both tragic and preventable.
By committing to ensuring people with disabilities have high-quality dental care that meets their comfort level and abilities across the lifespan, the DDF is centering the needs and experiences of the most vulnerable. And by doing that, even in the dentist’s office, everyone benefits.
Financial Information:
Total Assets: $122.9 million (FY23)
Amount Dedicated to Health-Related Grants: $7.3 million (FY23)
Special Initiatives and/or Representative Health and Human Services Grants
Delta Dental Special Care Clinic at the Indiana University School of Dentistry—The DDF continues to invest in purpose-built clinics designed to care for people with disabilities at the universities where the next generation of oral health professionals learn and train—and the Delta Dental Special Care Clinic, currently under construction, is just one example. ($2 million)
Kindergarten Oral Health Initiative—The DDF provided critical funding to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to support the new, legislatively mandated Kindergarten Oral Health Initiative, which requires that all children entering kindergarten receive a no-cost dental screening. ($1.5 million)
Corktown Health—The DDF funded the development of Michigan’s first LGBTQ+ affirming dental clinic at Corktown Health in Detroit, Michigan as well as the equipment for a new Corktown dental clinic, currently under construction, in Hazel Park. ($639,000)
Centers for Inclusive Dentistry—The DDF created the Centers for Inclusive Dentistry program to provide the training and resources dental teams at nonprofit, public health clinics need to provide people with disabilities—especially intellectual and developmental disabilities—the best possible care across the lifespan. ($500,000)
Accessibili-D—The DDF’s funding directly sponsored a self-driving shuttle under the Detroit Office of Mobility Innovation’s Accesibili-D program to take older adults and people with disabilities in Detroit, Michigan to designated safety-net dental clinics. ($206,000)
The Delta Dental Foundation and GIH
Grantmakers In Health has provided meaningful opportunities to connect with funders beyond those working in oral health. This peer-to-peer networking helps the DDF better understand how its giving fits into the greater landscape of health philanthropy and ensures the DDF is following best practices and pooling resources in ways that make sense.
Role of Philanthropy in Meeting Pressing Needs
“When philanthropy isn’t open and ready to embrace emerging initiatives, it hampers the nonprofit world’s ability to offer the often life changing services they provide to their communities. As the Delta Dental Foundation developed and launched its first strategic plan this year, it was important to me that we prioritize relationships so that we could be receptive to what our nonprofit partners are going through. It’s OK to say ‘no’ to programs and initiatives that don’t support your organization’s goals, but you need to be flexible enough to pivot quickly as needs arise.”
–Holli Seabury, EdD, Executive Director, Delta Dental Foundation
