"We are breaking the mold," Brenda Solorzano tells the Missoulian.
Solorzano is CEO of the Headwaters Foundation, which was created in 2017 to support community health in western Montana.
The foundation was formed when the Community Medical Center, a non-profit hospital, was sold to a for-profit.
The $75 million sale of the hospital was approved by Montana's attorney general in 2015, and in that year, the Headwaters Foundation was born.
Since then, it's awarded $26 million in grants, the Missoulian reports.
But Solorzano, who will be stepping down from her position at the end of the summer, says the work of the foundation is far more than just giving out money.
It's funding the capacity of a community to come together, "a big, transformational thing," she says.
For example, the foundation has partnered with doulas, professionals who support women in labor, to offer birth services in one county.
"We love to support parents," says April Quinlan of the Mineral County Health Department.
"Now, health department workers do home visits for any family regardless of income and regardless of the age of the child, she says.
Another change will benefit the health of mothers.
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Senay Ataselim-Yilmaz, Chief Operating Officer, Turkish Philanthropy Funds, writes that philanthropy often solves the very problems that stems from market failure. Some social issues, however, cannot be tackled by questioning the return on investment.