The formation of Hospice Giving Foundation was a visionary move. The leadership believed that by raising funds and awarding grants to many different agencies, patients and families would have greater access to compassionate and dignified care at end-of-life. They also believed that it was equally important to help people understand their options and have access to care. The generous community that has financially supported Hospice Giving Foundation made this possible.

Alice Kinsler, the first President and CEO of Hospice (Giving) Foundation was responsible for building the infrastructure and laying the groundwork for the Foundation’s growth and stability. Alice retired after 15 years and is credited with building assets that enables this Foundation to make informed decisions about granting.

Siobhan Greene was named as President/CEO of Hospice (Giving) Foundation in 2013. The following year the organization changed its name to Hospice Giving Foundation to better reflect the grant making role the Foundation plays in our community.

Hospice Giving Foundation, during its 20-year history has awarded almost $25MM in grants to local non-profit care providers. This combined with other Foundation support for end-of-life education and outreach, totals more than $30MM invested locally.

Here are highlights of HGF’s legacy of giving and the realization of the original vision to fund a wide spectrum of care providers and agencies.

The lion’s share – 80%—of funds has been directed to hospice and palliative care providers with a marked increase in palliative care over the past 7 years. Hospice of the Central Coast (Montage Health), Central Coast Hospice & VNA, and Hospice of Santa Cruz include support for Veterans under their hospice care and palliative care umbrellas. Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System ‘s multi-disciplinary palliative team is richly interwoven with their outpatient clinics. Since 2003 Hazel Hawkins Hospital has brought palliative care to patients in nursing homes and in the hospital. In 2002 Hospice Giving Foundation helped found Compassionate Care Alliance, a program for professional and individual learning for end-of-life care. CCA was a leader in our community before transferring its services back to Hospice Giving Foundation in 2015.

Beginning in 2005, HGF funded pediatric end-of-life care, primarily support services and legislative advocacy. Years later, under the guidance of Hospice Giving Foundation, three pediatric providers formed a collaborative to strengthen the system of care for children with life-limiting illnesses. Today, Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services, Coastal Kids Home Care, and Partnership for Children are model programs providing a spectrum of care for children and their families.

Natividad Medical Center’s palliative team has expanded its spiritual care for patients treated through their official Level II Trauma Center. They also received funding in 2012 for the development of indigenous language training videos for end-of-life care, a part of its nationally recognized Indigenous Interpreting Plus Program.

Through the years, Hospice Giving Foundation funded programs to help families process loss, such as Alzheimer’s Association, AIDS programs, suicide prevention and intervention programs, as well and grief and bereavement programs.

As the community that took the lead in early hospice care and establishing the Medicare benefit, we hope you share our pride in the programs we fund and the people who have made them possible. Today, as Hospice Giving Foundation celebrates 20 years, our vision is to support existing programs and help establish new programs in regions of the community that lack adequate care. Hospice Giving Foundation is committed to many more decades of supporting dignified and compassionate care at end-of-life for residents of all ages, throughout Monterey and San Benito Counties.

You can watch a short video, ‘Reflections on our History’ above.