Foundation for Seacoast Health

For 38 years the mission of the Foundation for Seacoast Health has been to improve the health and wellbeing of Seacoast residents. We have strived to build healthier communities through a creative mix of grants, initiatives, programs, and facilities. Major milestones included the 1990 funding of the Clipper Health Center, the first school-based health center in New Hampshire and the opening of the Community Campus in 1999, one of the first multi-tenant nonprofit centers in the country. In 2000 we were proud to collaborate with Seacoast United Way and NHCF Piscataqua to create the Partnership for Effective Nonprofits (PEN). PEN became the predecessor to the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits. Since 2005 the support of Campus tenants and the fixed costs of operating the facility became the primary community investments for the Foundation requiring us to curtail our traditional grant making and scholarship awards. In 2016 Foundation Trustees made the courageous decision to sell the property to a suitable buyer who would retain the asset to benefit the community. 2022 is a very special year marking the sale of the Community Campus to the City of Portsmouth to continue our legacy of support to area nonprofits and those they serve. This milestone ensures the sustainability of our endowment for future generations. The next 12-18 months will be a time of planning for the organization. Believing data and research as well as real-life experience contribute to a well-informed approach, we will engage a planning consultant to facilitate our efforts in these areas. We intend to gather information from a wide range of partners and constituents so many individuals will have the opportunity to contribute to our outcome, to determine the strategic grant priorities for the Foundation for the next 5-10 years. Grantmaking
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We will accomplish this by being leaders in the advancement of a healthy Seacoast community through initiatives that impact and promote the well-being of its residents. Scholarships
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We have given 2.2 million dollars in scholarship awards to 303 undergraduate and graduate students pursuing health related fields of study.