Boston — February 7, 2013 — The Catalyst Fund, a partnership between the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts' (BCBSMA) associates, has awarded more than $1 million in grants since its inception ten years ago to health care nonprofits. The grants help expand access to health care for low-income and vulnerable people. The Catalyst Fund is managed by the BCBSMA Foundation and all grants are funded exclusively by BCBSMA associates' year-round donations.
"As a company, we demonstrate our commitment to improving health care through our work, but also through the causes we support," said President & CEO Andrew Dreyfus, who founded the Catalyst Fund in 2002 when he was President of the Foundation. "From the beginning, BCBSMA associates have made the Catalyst Fund their own by financially supporting it and also serving on the review committee that awards grants. Donating $1 million in Catalyst Fund grants is a major achievement we all can be proud of."
Organizations like the New England Eye Institute, Willie Ross School for the Deaf, and The United Teen Equality Center have received grants ranging from $3,500 to $5,000. These grants helped set up a language line in a mobile eye clinic, purchase a GSI TympStar - an instrument used to detect middle ear function and disease - and implement a database system that will help track participant activity, progress and outcome.
"Because of Blue Cross' support, the Schwartz Center for Children will be able to continue serving children with special medical and developmental needs right here in Southeastern Massachusetts," said Mary Hodgson, Executive Director of the organization, an independent, community-based provider of education, therapy, and medical care for children with special medical and developmental needs. "Your contributions are helping to change lives, whether it is a child taking his or her first steps during physical therapy, or a child with autism spectrum disorder making their first friend in a social skills group, you are helping to make magic happen."
Applications for the Catalyst Fund are accepted through the Foundation's website at www.bluecrossmafoundation.org. Grants are awarded on a monthly basis, with the next round scheduled for the end of February 2013.
About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (www.bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our 2.8 million members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality.