For those of you who work for a nonprofit organization or who serve on a nonprofit board, you know the importance and dedication of the folks who serve as board members. Last week HCF had six of our founding director’s leave the board as their board terms expired. These founding board members were simply amazing.

In September 2003 Missouri Attorney General Nixon named our founding board members and provided them with money from the sale of Health Midwest Hospitals to HCA but gave little other direction other than to “do what was right”. The founding board had to determine funding priorities, develop financial management and investment practices, hire consultants and vendors, find office space, hire staff, and most importantly listen to needs of the community.

This foundation has benefited greatly from the leadership of these outstanding men and women. They developed an ethics and conflict of interest policy for board and associates that is very strong and comprehensive. They established funding guidelines and grant making procedures that are transparent and fair. They made sure we provided training to small grass roots and faith based organizations so they could compete for funding. They challenged us to take risks and to get deeply involved in public policy discussions that affect the uninsured and underserved.

As HCF transitions to new board leadership I want to take time to thank our outgoing founding board members: Dr. Harry Jonas, Mary Lou Jaramillo, Larry Blankinship, Rod Minkin, Landon Rowland and Mark Flaherty. Thanks for your leadership and friendship!

We welcome new leaders to the HCF foundation board: Al Mauro, Sr., Marie McCarther, Marcia Nielsen, Dr. Dan Purdom, Kenny Southwick, Ken Stremming, & Susan Wilson. We look forward to working with these new board leaders as we continue the journey of providing leadership, advocacy and resources that eliminate barriers to quality health for uninsured and underserved in our service area.