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Nurses are a philanthropic bargain, costing just 1-cent of every dollar donated or granted to a healthcare system. Between 2015 and 2022, though private donations to healthcare totaled $333.3, nurses received only 1% of these contributions.
According to data from the American Nurse Foundation, nurses have vast clinical knowledge and expertise, which positions them as innovators and leaders within the health care system. However only three of every 100 grants for nurses focus on investing in nurse leadership or nurse-led innovation. That’s roughly just 217 awards out of about 7,100 grants.
Estimated foundation giving for the nursing profession between 2015 and 2022 totaled $778.6 million, or about one-quarter of private contributions. While individual donors provide essential funding for the nursing profession, foundations — especially larger, staffed entities — generally have established formal giving priorities and maintain a more consistent focus on these priorities over time. This approach enables them to develop a deep understanding of critical issue areas, remain focused on advancing their strategies, and provide the types of catalytic investments that can transform a field.
Foundation giving prioritizes filling the nursing pipeline instead of addressing the systemic factors that lead to attrition. Between 2015 and 2019, the vast majority of U.S. foundation funding for the nursing profession supported nursing education and training. Several professional interviewed for the study expressed strong concern that educating more nurses without addressing the failures of the current system, such as dangerous work environments, disrespect, and work demands that lead to persistent stress, will simply perpetuate the attrition of nurses from the profession, according to the data.
Foundations awarded more than three times as much in grant dollars to support nurse-led health care practice than they did to advance nurse leadership in the health care field. The disparity was even greater when comparing the number of grants awarded. One-third of the grants awarded between 2015 and 2019 supported nurse-led health care practice, such as through a visiting nurse association or the Nurse-Family Partnership.
Of the roughly 7,100 grants made between 2015 and 2019 by foundations included in this analysis for the nursing profession, only five directly referenced engaging nurses in ensuring equitable health outcomes for all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, class, or geography. By comparison, all the professional interview for the study spoke about the critical role of nurses in achieving health equity.
Visit the American Nurses Foundation to view the complete findings.
