Just as its name implies, the Northeast Georgia Health System Foundation supports the work of a vast healthcare system across many counties of northeast Georgia. Led by Mr. Chris Bray and a small dedicated staff, the NGHS Foundation received three grants in the past year with help from the Columns Fundraising team: $796,000 from USDA, $100,000 from the Dobbs Foundation and $84,000 from Cigna.

The USDA grant was the first federal grant received by the NGHS Foundation; highly selective, this grant had 300 applications but only 100 awards granted. The USDA grant allowed NGHS to implement a new system that ties rural communities to a central hub hospital in Gainesville. With this new system, patients don’t have to travel to the central hospital to see specialists for a follow up. Far more than seeing the patient on video, the new system provides rural health centers with devices that transmit health data to the hub hospital. A patient can virtually see a cardiologist without driving all the way to the hub hospital.

The Dobbs Foundation grant helped implement a new electronic medical records system at the Good News Clinic, a NGHS partner organization in Gainesville. The GNC provides free dental and other medical care to uninsured residents of Hall County.

The Cigna Foundation grant helped fund the NGHS new paramedicine program, which enables specialized paramedics to visit patients in the community well before they need the emergency room. Originally, NGHS struggled to have the Cigna grant awarded — their first application was rejected. The Columns team prepared the second application and the NGHS Foundation received their third grant of the year.

Columns consultants Cynthia McGuinness and Rebecca Jean-Baptiste attribute their success in helping NGHS with these grant applications to the following reasons. First, they matched the right nonprofit applicant to the right potential institutional funder. Second, the team at NGHS was willing to provide information that helped the Columns team tell their story to potential institutional funders. Third, they worked closely with seasoned grant writing professionals!

Curious how Columns Fundraising can help with your grant applications? Connect with our team of highly experienced grant writers at https://www.columnsfundraising.com/.