Thomas Scattergood Foundation

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Grant Making Priorities-Creating cross currents for change

Strategic Approach

With the range and depth of behavioral health needs far outpacing Scattergood’s financial resources, the Foundation has chosen to proceed in a highly strategic manner in order to have a meaningful impact. Scattergood seeks to change the ways in which community behavioral health services are delivered by focusing its support on organizations with a track record of innovation and potential for effecting systems change. Scattergood will take an active role in identifying initiatives consistent with its priorities, seeking out organizations that can advance these initiatives, and awarding grants in a manner that can make a targeted and measurable impact. Scattergood will also seek out partnerships that can fruitfully leverage both material and non-material resources to extend its ability to effect change at grassroots and systemic levels.

In pursuing these goals, the foundation is driven by three strategic guidelines.

Leverage financial, intellectual and social capital through collaboration

The Foundation seeks to combine financial resources with other agencies interested in community well being and the role behavioral health plays in achieving it. This in turn will help foster the development and implementation of successful community-level programs that address needs lacking adequate, sustainable funding, an example of the Community Intervention Collaborative approach.

Promote centers of excellence

Scattergood identifies and supports individuals and organizations playing a leadership role in community behavioral health that are creating and/or bringing evidence-based practices to the region. Scattergood will identify and support remarkable organizations and individuals undertaking exemplary work in the field as a means to advance their efforts and to encourage others to model their activities and interests.

Influence the conversation

Scattergood seeks to influence the actions and decisions of the key players in the region’s behavioral health community in order to enact system reform. Scattergood will work to advance concrete approaches to making service delivery more effective for everyone in need, enabling the continuum of providers, payers and other key actors to function as a coherent “system” rather than as disparate elements often in conflict with one another. The foundation works to assure that findings and recommendations from the activities it supports are known and discussed.

How to Apply

For organizations interested in applying for a grant from the Scattergood Foundation, the first point of contact should be the submission of a 1-2 page Letter of Inquiry (LOI) via email. In your LOI, please concisely describe:

Your organization’s background;
Your proposed program or initiative;
The relevance of the initiative to the Scattergood Foundation’s priorities, including how you envision this work contributing to the reform of the behavioral health system;
How you intend to measure quality outcomes;
The program cost; and
Your plan for sustaining the program financially in the future.

If you are seeking collaborative funding, also indicate with what entities you are collaborating, and the nature of your collaboration. The Foundation will review and respond to your LOI to let you know whether or not the Board wishes to consider a full proposal.