The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) and The David and Lura Lovell Foundation announced their continued partnership to award nonprofit organizations grants to address issues related to the awareness, understanding, and availability of end-of-life care and planning, particularly for underserved and vulnerable populations and communities. The grant period is July 2020 through June 2023.

Click here to learn more about the FY ’20-’23  End of Life Care grant recipients.

Community Foundation for Southern Arizona Funding Guidelines 

The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona began supporting end-of-life care as an original funder of the community-wide Elder Initiative (now the ELDER Alliance) from 2010-2016, from which the Arizona End-of-Life Care Partnership developed. After the tragic and sudden death of Shaaron Kent, a portion of her estate came to CFSA to support three areas she felt passionate about, one of which included hospice programs in Southern Arizona. The Shaaron Kent Endowment Fund was established in 2012 as a field of interest fund to carry out her wishes.

Through Shaaron Kent’s legacy, CFSA is interested in supporting the following:

  1. Program or project that provides or enhances direct end-of-life services to low-income and people of color and their families.
  2. Programs that provide or enhance end-of-life care services to individuals and their families (for example, programs that provide services to the elderly at the end of their lives or programs that offer ancillary services to children in hospice).
  3. Programs that help educate individuals, caregivers, medical personnel, family members, and the community about end-of-life care/services, including palliative care and hospice (for example, programs that educate people about the possibility of using hospice services or how to have end-of-life conversations within their families).

The David and Lura Lovell Foundation Funding Guidelines 

We envision communities where all people have access to integrative approaches to health care and wellness throughout the spectrum of life. After co-funding an award-winning film, Passing On, about a community that achieved 95 percent advance directive completion rates, and finding a fledgling coalition already in Pima County funded through CFSA, we collaborated to fund a larger initiative to try to change the conversation around dying in Pima County and, eventually, across Arizona. Since 2016, our funding has helped create one of the largest funded community-based end-of-life efforts in the U.S. Our broad initiatives attempt to:

  1. Address the root causes of social issues, either through the elimination of a problem or creation of a solution; and/or
  2. Alter the structure of a system so that it can better address the root causes of social issues; and/or
  3. Transform an organization or group of organizations so they are better equipped to alter the structure of a system and/or address the root causes of issues

Desired Outcomes for End of Life Care

  • Reduce the stigma surrounding discussions of end-of-life care and planning
  • Ensure that patients’ wishes for end-of-life care are identified and honored
  • Increase the demand for, accessibility to, and use of a full range of approaches to end-of-life care
  • Reduce institutional stays and unwanted medical procedures, and their associated costs
  • Address the mental health needs of individuals, families, and caregivers dealing with death
  • Protect vulnerable populations (e.g., solo older adults, the homeless) from unwanted care
  • Understand and honor cultural differences around death in end-of-life care and planning

Objectives for Achieving Outcomes

The Lovell Foundation will consider proposals focused on one or more of these objectives in order to achieve the above outcomes:

  • Engage the Community in awareness, stigma reduction, and other activities focused on acknowledging mortality, preparing for the end of life, and understanding the full range of care options.
  • Educate Professionals and Patients on how to discuss and support individuals and families with culturally informed, patient-centered, advanced care planning and help them understand the ramifications of a full range of end-of-life care options.
  • Institute Organizational and Community Standards of Practice surrounding end-of-life care and planning within healthcare institutions, across health networks, or across a community.
  • Develop the Workforce to increase the number of well-educated integrative providers in the areas of in-home and facility-based gerontology, palliative care, and hospice.
  • Impact Public Policy by educating the public and key decision-makers about the true societal costs of neglecting end-of-life care and planning, and the need for easily accessible plans and documents.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact: 

David Gardner
Program Manager
dgardner@cfsaz.org
520-382-9203

Ann Borden
Grants Manager
The David and Lura Lovell Foundation
520-325-3656
info@lovellfoundation.org