The mission of the Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing, equitable health care system that promotes better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency in health care for everyone — regardless of income, insurance status, geography, gender, race, ethnicity, or ability status — and especially for society’s most vulnerable.
The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy. In its more than 100 years, the Fund has pursued its mission by:
- demonstrating pioneering approaches and evaluating their results to identify levers for change
- convening experts across backgrounds and disciplines to spark innovation and facilitate learning
- disseminating the results of our research to spur change
- investing in tomorrow’s health care leaders and their capacity to promote equitable outcomes both in the U.S. and abroad.
Fund staff are collaborative partners in the grantmaking process. In addition to giving grants to health care–focused organizations, Fund staff conduct their own research as well. Our communications team, meanwhile, helps to ensure the foundation is a leader in disseminating timely, actionable information to health care leaders, policymakers, community stakeholders, and the media.
Applying for a Grant
To apply for a grant from the Commonwealth Fund, please submit a letter of inquiry (LOI) using the online grants portal. Before doing so, you may want to learn about the Fund’s current funding priorities.
Applicants are typically advised of the results of their inquiries within six weeks, and often sooner. LOIs are accepted on a rolling basis, unless they are submitted in response to a request for proposals (RFP), in which case the submission deadline is shown on the funding announcement and the portal. If your LOI is identified as a potential fit, program staff will be in touch about next steps in our collaborative proposal development process.