Address: 110 West 40th St Suite 400 New York, NY 10018
Phone: 646.880.3585
Web: www.Forefdn.org
Email: kscott@forefdn.org
The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) was founded in 2018 to support solutions to the national opioid crisis. It is a national grantmaking foundation committed to convening and supporting partners advancing patient-centered, innovative, evidence-based solutions addressing the opioid crisis. With patients at the center, it focuses on supporting programs and grants in four key areas: professional education, payer and provider strategies, policy initiatives, and public awareness.
FORE supports projects to address opioid use disorder (OUD) and overdoses across the continuum of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery, with a focus on those populations and communities at highest risk of mortality, and with higher barriers to services, including communities of color, justice-involved populations, women, and rural communities. It funds work across the United States, as well as national policy work.
Program Information:
FORE’s current programs include Access to Treatment for Vulnerable Populations, COVID response grants, Innovation Challenge, Family and Community Based Prevention, and a New/Open RFP: Community Driven Responses to Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose Mortality.
Financial Information:
Total Assets: $120 million (FY22)
Amount Dedicated to Health-Related Grants: $120 million (FY22)
Special Initiatives and/or Representative Health and Human Services Grants
Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) 2021-2022 National Opioid Crisis Task Force. —BPC convened and led a high-level task force which developed recommendations for effective use of federal opioid response funds. The report was released early May 2022, and presented at a Congressional Hill briefing in July 2022. ($250,000)
Emergency Department Consortium—Three organizations, California Bridge, Emergency Medicine Foundation, and Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine were awarded grants to combine efforts to train clinicians and assist emergency departments across the country to improve the treatment of people with OUD. ($1.8 million for two years)
University of North Carolina, Brown University, Medical College of Wisconsin, and Tufts College—These four organizations are part of our innovation program, all working on aspects of improving the timeliness of overdose and drug data and communicating the information more quickly so that life-saving actions can be taken. (approximately $2.2 million for two years)
Morgan County Partnership—This prevention project in Morgan Country, West Virginia is focusing on bringing together a wide range of health, education, and social services to support families to prevent OUD and help those who need treatment. ($1.5 million for three years)
Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma—To develop a Medical-Legal Partnership to assist families with a parent or caregiver in OUD treatment/recovery and address many social determinants of health which can also contribute to adverse childhood events, and in turn increase the risk of developing a substance use disorder. ($1 million over two years)
Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts and GIH
As Karen Scott took on the role of setting up this foundation, GIH was one of the first calls she made. As a fairly new foundation, FORE officially joined GIH about two years ago, though even before they were able to join, the leadership at GIH were generous in sharing their knowledge of other funders working on related issues, as well as connecting Dr. Scott with colleagues. Since joining, Dr. Scott continues to view GIH as a key resource and important partner for sharing what FORE is doing and developing approaches to further leverage its work.
Role of Philanthropy in Meeting Pressing Needs
“The opioid crisis is a wide-ranging public health crisis that will require many different approaches and disciplines to effect real change. It will require bringing together and highlighting the intersections of physical and mental health, social determinants of health, and long-standing policies including those on criminal justice and access to treatment. To that end, many health funders can find a role to play that contributes to reducing mortality and increasing well-being, even if they do not consider themselves OUD funders.”
– Karen A. Scott, MD, MPH, President, FORE