Grants that expand healthcare access: Partnering with nonprofits to reach communities in need

Investing in our long-term partnerships with charitable organizations

Through purpose-driven projects and grants, the Cencora Impact Foundation works together with a network of nonprofit partners to advance access to healthcare around the world. The Foundation — which is an independent, not-for-profit charitable giving entity established by Cencora — actively seeks out ways to support organizations that are already embedded in various locales as a key strategy for creating healthier futures. This approach is well-aligned with the work Cencora team members do every day to help the communities that count on us to provide timely access to the medications they need.

One way the Foundation strengthens our collective impact is through the Cencora Healthier Futures Grant Program.

A bold new donation strategy

In 2023, we officially changed our name to Cencora, uniting the companies and services of AmerisourceBergen and Alliance Healthcare under one global brand. Likewise, the AmerisourceBergen Foundation evolved into the Cencora Impact Foundation with a renewed focus on three key areas:

• Supporting access to healthcare for underserved populations around the globe
• Improving the health of service, companion, and production animals that support humans
• Combating prescription drug misuse through safe disposal, innovative solutions, and mental health support

 
To commemorate this exciting moment of global expansion, a new grant program was created to uncover promising opportunities where Cencora’s supply chain capabilities could be leveraged by charitable organizations that have close ties to the communities we both serve. Making these types of connections at the local level is crucial to helping us enhance our long-term, shared impact on global health, so Cencora made a $5 million donation to the Cencora Impact Foundation, helping to launch the Cencora Healthier Futures Grant Program.

An inaugural donation from this new program soon followed — a $500,000 grant to the UNICEF Global Health Fund. Through this initiative, UNICEF focuses on giving every child the chance to survive and thrive by providing strong primary healthcare systems, training healthcare professionals, and working closely with national governments to ensure programs can be replicated at scale. The Cencora Impact Foundation has been able to provide meaningful support to UNICEF, helping them in their efforts to reduce the number of maternal and newborn deaths, administer immunizations to children, reduce malnutrition, address adolescent mental health, and combat the rise of non-communicable diseases.

Expanding our impact on more communities

Following the success of the first grant and how it strengthened the Foundation’s partnership with UNICEF, all the charitable organizations in Cencora’s partner network were invited to submit proposals for the next Healthier Futures grant in 2024. This open call strongly encouraged initiatives aimed at building pharmaceutical supply chain infrastructure resiliency, addressing global challenges like drug shortages and antimicrobial resistance. And the response we received from our nonprofit partners was overwhelming.

Deeper than a donation

The Foundation is continuing to work closely with our grant recipients, tapping into the resources and connections of our enterprise to offer strategic support that significantly extends the value of the funding provided through the grant program. Nurturing these multi-year partnerships with organizations that reflect our purpose is one of the most effective ways we can make a direct impact on communities in times of need, because the future of global health is much brighter when we work together.