The Baxter International Foundation

The Baxter International Foundation's primary focus is increasing access to healthcare worldwide. In addition, the Foundation supports three prize programs recognizing organizations and individuals who demonstrate excellence in community service and healthcare research, and has a long-standing commitment to the education of employees' children through scholarships and matching gifts. In 2010, the Foundation donated a total of $4.1 million (actual payments, excluding future commitments) in 30 countries. This included $1.6 million in grants to organizations outside of the United States, including nearly $750,000 to 766 organizations through the Foundation's Dollars for Doers and Matching Gifts programs that support employees' philanthropic contributions. The majority of the grants were based on recommendations from Baxter employees, targeted to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare for the disadvantaged and underserved in local communities.

Grants awarded in 2010 fulfilled local needs to increase access to dental care, mental health, and other healthcare services for children, the uninsured, veterans, and the elderly. Recipient organizations included the following:

• Belgium - VZW Kinderkankerfonds in Gent, to increase in-home curative and palliative support for children suffering from life-threatening and serious chronic diseases, and their families.
• Guatemala - Project Safe Passage/Proyecto Camino Seguro in Antigua, to train local women to promote health in the community living around the Guatemala City Municipal Dump, and to increase health education for children and parents.
• India - AmeriCares in Mumbai, to support a two year pilot project to reduce health disparities within communities in the urban slums of Andheri East, through the use of mobile medical vans, patient tracking and education.
• Puerto Rico - Instituto Psicopedagogico de Puerto Rico, in San Juan, to add an occupational therapist and part time pharmacist to the residential center for adults with developmental disabilities.
• United States - Serenity, Inc. in Mountain Home, Arkansas, to ensure children residing in this domestic violence shelter receive necessary physical and mental health services, through the addition of a children’s advocate to the staff.
• United States - Conejo Free Clinic in Thousand Oaks, California, to expand clinic services in Venture County through the addition of an operations manager.
• United States - Broward Partnership for the Homeless in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to improve and expand dental services for the homeless through the addition of a dental hygienist.

See a complete list of recent grants with additional detail.

The Baxter International Foundation sponsors prizes that recognize excellence in community service and healthcare research. These are among the most prestigious in the healthcare field.

Foster G. McGaw Award: Each year, The Baxter International Foundation, in conjunction with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and Health Research & Educational Trust, presents the $100,000 Foster G. McGaw Award to a healthcare organization that provides innovative programs that improve community health and well-being. In 2010, Allegiance Health in Jackson, Michigan, United States received this honor for its broad-based efforts to improve the lives of its most vulnerable community members. Allegiance Health is a community-owned, locally governed, integrated health system that includes more than 40 sites of care, including both short-term and long-term acute care hospitals, a network of primary care clinics and diagnostic centers, home care and hospice services, a diabetes center and a wound care center. It provides healthcare to 500,000 people in a nine-county area of south central Michigan and is the largest employer in the region with 3,700 employees. Allegiance Health was recognized specifically for providing five programs that educate and offer wellness opportunities for children and adults.

William B. Graham Prize: Working with the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, The Baxter International Foundation awards the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research to recognize major contributions to public health through innovative research. Uwe E. Reinhardt, Ph.D., the James Madison Professor of Political Economy and Professor of Economics at Princeton University, received the $50,000 award in 2010 for his expertise and international experience in monetary and health policy, and service on several government commissions and advisory boards, including one established by the U.S. Congress to advise on issues related to physician payment. Reinhardt is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and in 2006 was appointed to chair the New Jersey health reform commission.