n July 1, 1997 fundraising to support hospice care in Monterey and San Benito counties fundamentally changed when it became the responsibility of the newly created Hospice Foundation, based in Monterey, Calif.

On that day, Hospice Foundation was created out of the sale of the community’s first hospice care provider, Hospice of the Central Coast, to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.   At the time, Hospice of the Central Coast was comprised of its hospice home care nursing operations, Westland House (formerly known as Hospice House), and Resource Center libraries in Monterey, Salinas and Hollister.  All were transferred to CHOMP’s ownership and have since been integrated into the hospital's system of services.

The Changeover

Until July, 1997, Hospice of the Central Coast had an internal fundraising and marketing communications department as part of its administrative functions.  This department raised funds through a variety of appeals and events to help close the gap in revenue between what it cost the agency to provide care and what was received in reimbursement from Medicare and insurance companies. 

New Entity Formed

When the nursing program was sold to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, the fundraising department became a new, entirely separate non-profit entity, Hospice Foundation.  The Foundation was created with a wider mission as a community-based philanthropy with the sole purpose of supporting end-of-life care in Monterey and San Benito counties.  While the Foundation's board of directors agreed, as part of the transfer, to help support CHOMP’s hospice program (which would retain the name Hospice of the Central Coast), its new mission also included funding other non-profit providers of hospice care in the area, such as the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice Caring Project, and associated end-of-life services in Monterey and San Benito counties, such as John XXIII AIDS Ministry.

Big Community Impact

Now, 10 years later, Hospice Foundation has made grants totaling more than $12 million to local organizations serving people at the end of life.  Today, these grants help these providers close the gap between what they are reimbursed from a patient’s insurance coverage, including Medicare and other government programs, and what it actually costs to provide their services to the community.  Many services funded by the Foundation, such as palliative care, resource libraries, grief support, caregiver relief, and community education programs, have no reimbursement source. The Hospice Foundation’s funding is vital to these providers in keeping these programs available, some as a free community service, and helping them to remain high quality.

What Is Funded

Funding from the Hospice Foundation supports home nursing and other care for all ages, emotional support, grief counseling, resource libraries, and volunteer support services, such as driving a patient to the doctor. The grants also enable these organizations to expand or open new programs in underserved populations or areas of Monterey and San Benito counties, and to be innovative as the community’s needs change.

Empowering a Community Network of Care and Comfort

Over the 10 years, the Foundation has helped create a strong network of care in our community, covering many of the needs that affect families who are dealing with the challenges of terminal illness, loss, grief, and recovery. Often, these funded organizations collaborate and work together to help families.

How the Funds are Raised

To raise funds for the grants, Hospice Foundation conducts a number of well-known fundraising events: Hospice Foundation Golf Scramble, and the holiday Trees of Life celebrations, as well as a popular harvest time raffle, Gobblers & Gifts. Corporations often sponsor these events or provide prizes or in-kind services. The Foundation also receives donations in honor or in memory of someone, as well as individual gifts resulting from a mailing appeal, dues from its membership program, and employee giving or matching programs. From time to time, the Foundation also receives major gifts from trusts, bequests, gift annuities or other estate plans.

Educating the community about end-of-life issues has also been a vital component of Hospice Foundation’s mission. Throughout the year, the Foundation conducts numerous educational activities, including hosting the annual Hospice Foundation of America teleconference and Grief in the Workplace trainings for human resource managers, staff and other key employees.

In 2000, the Foundation started the End-of-Life Coalition, administering and coordinating its outreach and community education activities until the coalition became the non-profit Compassionate Care Alliance in 2003. Today, the Foundation continues to fund CCA educational activities which help bring together doctors, hospice care providers, hospitals, home health professionals, social service and senior care agencies, volunteers, community members, and many others to dialogue about and work together to improve care for the dying in Monterey and San Benito counties.