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For more than 60 years, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations have supported efforts by medical schools, hospitals, hospice programs, and other healthcare initiatives to enhanced medical education, the patient experience, and the quality of healthcare in America.

The Foundations provided the first grant to the Connecticut Hospice, which inaugurated hospice care in America in 1976 and helped to spawn the larger movement throughout the nation. In 2017, AVDF launched a pilot program that funded initiatives that sought to improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care for all Americans.

In 2021, the AVDF Board of Trustees affirmed that the Foundations will continue funding palliative care initiatives on an invitation only basis. As a result, we do not accept unsolicited funding requests in this Program Area.

Featured Grant: Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC)

Despite the documented benefits of palliative care – goal concordant care for the patient, higher quality of life, symptom management, and increased patient and caregiver satisfaction – palliative care is still not readily available for all patients who may benefit. The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) has been a leader in advancing palliative care programs in hospitals and community settings across the country, and they are committed to continuing to advance access to quality palliative care for all seriously ill patients.

With a more than $500,000 grant from AVDF, CAPC is undertaking three projects focused on improving quality of life among three populations for whom palliative care access is lagging – despite growth in the field: Black families, children facing serious illness, and patients who receive care without the benefit of a specialty palliative care team. To learn more, click here.