Where Health Matters Grant Program

The Where Health Matters Grant Program is part of Health New England’s overall Community Benefits Giving program that looks to advance the health and well-being of vulnerable population groups living in Central and Western Massachusetts. Health New England will award five $50,000 grants to non-profit community organizations annually, a minimum of one organization will be awarded per focus area. We fund evidence-based community programs that address one or more of the areas of our funding priorities and at least one of the health issue areas or identified health priority areas (social determinants of health) as defined by the Attorney General Community Benefits Non-profit HMO Guidelines.

We are interested in non-profit community organizations that collaborate with other community partners for innovative delivery of programs that improve the health of people who live and work in our communities. 

We are interested in non-profit community organizations that collaborate with other community partners in the innovative delivery of programs that improve the health of people who live and work in our communities. Our focus areas for funding include:

  • Built Environment (i.e., access to healthy foods, and places to exercise)
  • Transportation
  • Care Coordination

For additional insights into our priority funding areas, please refer to the most recent Community Health Needs for Health New England. For more detailed information on the social determinants of health, which have been adopted by the Attorney General Community Benefits Guidelines, refer to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Determination of Need Health Priorities Guidelines. 

Where Health Matters Grant Program Application Process

All applicants are asked to submit a Letter of Intent and complete the Request for Proposal (RFP) grant application, in additional to all supporting documentation. Only complete submissions made online will be considered. Only one application per non-profit organization will be accepted in each funding year. Non-profit organizations will only be eligible for funding once from Health New England in a calendar year.


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Step 1)  Review Grant Program RFP Guidelines and complete the required supporting documentation, which include the Budget Template, Evaluation Plan Template, Logic Model Template and Work Plan. These documents must be completed and submitted online as part of your Grant Application by May 11, 2020, at 5 p.m.
Step 2)  To submit your written question(s) about the Grant Application and request the supporting documentations listed above email CommunityGiving@hne.com. Grant questions are due by March 18, 2020, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.
Step 3)  Submit your Letter of Intent by March 23, 2020, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, through our online Letter of Intent form.
Step 4)  A Grant Program Question & Answer Session will be held on March 23, 2020, at 1 p.m.  Please sign up here so we can send you a Skype Conferencing invite.
Step 5)  Submit your RFP Grant Application using our online form by May 11, 2020, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, and be sure to upload all completed supporting documents as part of your application.
Step 6)  RFP Grant Applications will be reviewed by Health New England Grant Program Review Teams, consisting of Health New England Community Benefits Advisory Committee members, public health experts and community partners.
Step 7)  Grantees will be informed in July. Grantees will be required to attend a Grant Program Workshop on August 6, 2020, from 12 – 3 p.m. at Health New England.
Step 8)  Funds will distributed to grantees in October 2020.
HNE