Comer Family Foundation
OVERVIEW: The Comer Family Foundation focuses its public health grantmaking on syringe exchanges, health matters related to injection drug use, and harm reduction.
IP TAKE: Comer awards grants to small and large outfits alike. Though it may give a bit of funding preference to organizations in its hometown of Chicago, it awards grants to groups in all 50 states.
PROFILE: The Comer Family Foundation was established in 1986 by the founder of Lands’ End clothing company, Gary Comer. The foundation works mainly in the Chicago area, but its health care initiative works nationally to build “sustainable, collaborative and community-based responses to disparities in health care.”
Comer’s health funding supports harm reduction programs for drug users, including sterile syringe programs, education and awareness initiatives and community-based services “to reduce opioid overdose and the transmission of HIV and viral hepatitis.” The foundation also provides ongoing support to the Medical Home Network, a national organization that aims to “redesign healthcare delivery and transform the way care is managed at the practice level.”
The Comer Family Foundation makes about $50,000 a year in grants, about half of which goes to public health causes. Its health grants tend to range from $2,000 to $6,000 and support small- to medium-sized organizations that provide services to drug users across the U.S. For additional information about past grants, see the foundation’s awardees page.
Comer accepts applications for its harm reduction grants on the first of May and November of each year. Gramtmaking is limited to organizations with budgets of under $600,000, that have been in operation for at least one year and that are “grounded in harm reduction principle and practice providing access to sterile syringes, safer smoking, and snorting kits, through comprehensive harm reduction syringe service programs.” Applications may be submitted through the foundation’s online application portal. General inquiries may be submitted to the foundation’s staff via the organization’s contact page.
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