Carolinas HealthCare Foundation serves as the primary point of contact for individual, foundation and corporate charitable support of Carolinas HealthCare System (a self-supporting, public, not-for-profit healthcare provider.) The Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

Carolinas HealthCare Foundation is important because it supports the work of Carolinas HealthCare System by providing programs and services that are not covered by revenues from patients and insurance companies. Although CHS is a large system, it does not have unlimited resources.

By working with donors, the Foundation enhances the services CHS provides. Areas supported by the Foundation include medical research, medical education, community health initiatives and equipment/facilities upgrades.

Financial contributions help provide the resources necessary to maintain the highest level of excellence and patient support in our medical programs and services. Your individual acts of generosity help improve the quality of life for people in our region today and into the future.

Philanthropic gifts have always been important to Carolinas HealthCare System. Since its beginnings in 1939, gracious donors have significantly contributed to the growth and success of CHS programs and services.

Many donors elect to designate a hospital service or program as the recipient of their gift – to a fund that supports ovarian cancer research, or to cardiovascular rehabilitation. A donor may also choose to make an unrestricted gift to the Foundation. At the discretion of the Board of Directors, these gifts are designated for areas where needs are most critical and urgent.

All of your donation goes to programs. The Foundation has an endowment that covers general operating costs, so none of your contribution goes to overhead or administration.

By law, most charities are required to file annual disclosures with the Internal Revenue Service to ensure compliance with tax laws.

For the most recent Form 990 from Carolinas HealthCare Foundation, click here.

Carolinas HealthCare System is not a 501(c)3 organization and cannot accept charitable contributions. Carolinas HealthCare Foundation is a 501 (c)3 organization and accepts all external charitable support for CHS.

No. Although big donations attract a lot of attention and are vital to supporting our causes, donations of all sizes are important. Every dollar counts. In addition to supporting programs and services, smaller donations often indicate wide levels of support, which can attract big donations. For instance, the opening of Levine Children’s Hospital was the culmination of years of attracting smaller donations through the Children’s Miracle Network. Also, even the largest donors do not typically pay for the entire cost of a program or facility. Their donations are often seed money to jump start donations of all sizes.

Funds are managed using professional investment management firms that invest in a balanced portfolio of securities. No charges are assessed by the Foundation against the Fund; however, monthly investment income for each fund is reduced by an allocated portion of the monthly investment management fees charged by our managers.

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. If you itemize deductions on your tax return, you are able to claim a tax deduction for your contribution to the Carolinas HealthCare Foundation. We will provide you with a receipt of your gift for your records.

Carolinas HealthCare Foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for funding. Our funds go to programs and services of Carolinas HealthCare Foundation.

Carolinas HealthCare Foundation is firmly committed to maintaining the privacy of our donors and friends. As such, the Foundation will not disclose any personal information to any other individuals, organizations or companies. This includes information obtained through personal communication and all correspondence through the mail or this web site. The Foundation may use contact information submitted, such as postal or e-mail addresses, to send out requested information to interested parties, but at any time, you may request to be excluded from receiving further communications from the Foundation.

The Carolinas HealthCare Foundation Web site does not use "cookies." General information (not personally identifiable), such as the daily number of visitors to the site, the types of browsers used by visitors and the visitors' domain names, may be tracked to enable us better to meet the needs of our guests.

This site provides links to external sites for your convenience, but the Foundation is not responsible for the content or the privacy practices of these sites.

We measure our effectiveness by the quality and quantity of programs and services we are able to fund, and people can see the results of our effectiveness throughout Carolinas HealthCare System. There are many programs and services that would not exist were it not for philanthropy. Every year, we meet or exceed our fundraising goals, and the number of donors and the amount they give increases – even when the economy is weaker than usual. To us, this means that donors see value in their contributions, which is a measure of effectiveness.

In addition, our board of directors is composed of members of our community who hold our organization accountable for results. Like most organizations our size, our financial results are audited every year. Our fundraising activities are in accordance with national non-profit best practices.

Healthcare is paid for mainly by patients and their insurance companies. Although federal programs pay some medical bills, they typically do not fully cover the cost of care. In 2009, Carolinas HealthCare System said it lost roughly $400 million by serving Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Philanthropy enhances existing programs and creates new programs and services that would not otherwise exist because of financial constraints.

Many people choose to give to causes that are personal to them – for instance, to improve patient care and fund research on a disease that affected a loved one. If you’re looking for ideas, check out “Find Your Cause” pages on this site. They tell you some of the programs and services that philanthropy has funded in different areas. If you need more information, please contact us. If you’re not sure exactly what you’d like to support, you can always choose to give an unrestricted gift, which will be used in the areas of greatest need.

Because we honor the privacy of donors, we do not publish or publicize donor lists, except for contributions to capital campaigns. We sometimes announce very large gifts, after consultation with the donor. Donors can always choose to contribute anonymously.

If you are donating to honor somebody, we send a note to the person being honored to notify them of your gift.

Carolinas HealthCare Foundation aims to respect your time. We do not inundate our donors with materials. Donors can opt in or out of occasional email updates and newsletters and control the correspondence they receive.

You won’t need to. If you choose to contribute for one year, we will not automatically renew your gift beyond that period. We will check in with you to ask if you would like to extend the gift. Unless you tell us to continue, the charges will stop.