Foundation for Healthy Communities
Overview
Mission
The mission of the Foundation for Healthy Communities is to build healthier communities for all by leading partnerships, fostering collaboration, and creating innovative solutions to advance health and health care.
What it reported doing in 2025
Founded in 1968 as an education and research organization for the New Hampshire Hospital Association (NHHA), the Foundation was reorganized in 1995 to meet the needs of a changing health care system. The Foundation for Healthy Communities is led by a board of trustees with a broad range of expertise that guides its strategic and programmatic efforts. Today, the Foundation is a partnership between New Hampshire hospitals, community organizations and other health care stakeholders that focuses on quality of care and access to health services as the major priorities of work, in alignment with the Foundation's mission of improving total population health for all communities.The Foundation for Healthy Communities is renowned on a state and national level for its ability to engage diverse partners in new, innovative collaborations and to serve as the backbone support for a variety of initiatives that address the health and health care needs of our state. The organization's programs focus on quality improvement initiatives, health promotion and access, as well as health equity and health disparities of care, behavioral health, substance use disorders and many more.In its work with partners statewide, the Foundation's key objectives are to improve total population health by promoting innovative, high value quality practices within organizations and communities; to lead change strategies that educate, create and sustain healthier communities and make the healthy choice the easy choice; and to promote access to affordable health care and resources that support the well-being of all people. One of the Foundation's strengths is to engage and lead diverse partners in new forms of collaboration and facilitates program integration for the benefit of the communities served by housing its diverse group of programs and staff in one location, streamlining processes, and opening pathways for collaborations.To promote a healthier state, the Foundation's initiatives focus on health prevention and education, access to affordable health care as well as insurance coverage, patient safety and quality improvement initiatives, patient and family engagement strategies, health equity and health disparities of care, emergency preparedness and response, behavioral health and the opioid crisis, among many other areas of priority. Descriptions of the programs currently running under the Foundation for Healthy Communities are below: Behavioral Health Clinical Learning CollaborativeThe Behavioral Health Clinical Learning Collaborative is designed to address the management and treatment of patients experiencing mental health crises in the emergency department (ED) setting. TheCollaborative brings together frontline ED and Community Mental Health Center professionals alongside other interested stakeholders to work in partnership on clinical improvement initiatives for these patients. The Foundation for Healthy Communities 02-0275078 goal of the program is to develop a well-integrated service system that provides the most suitable care for patients experiencing a psychiatric emergency and presenting at the ED.COVID-19 Vaccination ProjectThe COVID-19 Vaccination Project addressed the critical need to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines and boosters to prevent severe illness and hospitalizations throughout the State. The Foundation worked with New Hampshire's hospitals to develop and implement engagement strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccinations as part of health care and increase vaccine confidence through education and outreach. Many statewide efforts were developed to raise awareness and build vaccine confidence around fall respiratory vaccinations. The Foundation also managed the expansion of data system infrastructure with New Hampshire hospitals to expand and implement the Immunization Information Systems (NHIIS), including successfully developing pathways for HL7 messaging.Community BenefitsHospitals support their communities by delivering high quality heal
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 020275078
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Headquarters
- Concord, NH, USA
- Phone
- 6032250900
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 20
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 96.3%; rating input score 96
- Program expense ratio: 88.9%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 90.5%; rating input score 90; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -7.5%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.2%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 96.3% of revenue deployed · 88.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $694K · 25 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 10 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Stephen Ahnen (Secretary/Treasurer): $694,202 total reported compensation
- Peter Ames (Executive Director): $229,469 total reported compensation
- Kristine Hering (VP Quality Improvement): $229,306 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2025.