OPEN HEARTS FOUNDATION COVID-19 RESPONSE
With every crisis, there’s an opportunity to help, to come together, to care, to volunteer, to inspire, to create change. With every challenge, there’s an opportunity to open your heart to others.
Open Hearts Foundation Responded to the Covid-19 Global Health Crisis from April 2020 through March 2022
The Open Hearts Foundation took action immediately to support emerging and growing non-profits and to inspire volunteers to continue to serve with an open heart. Together, we have provided funding and hope to the most vulnerable during this prolonged pandemic.During our Celebratory Gala in 2022, our work and impact was shared through this 10 minute video:
Open Hearts Foundation Grant Making Program: Emergency Relief Fund
When the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality, the Open Hearts Foundation quickly went to work and established an Emergency Relief Fund through its grant making program to provide immediate grants to emerging charities on the frontlines of the pandemic serving women and children. Within weeks of the beginning of the pandemic, our grants were impacting the lives of thousands in vulnerable communities across the United States.
We have worked shoulder to shoulder with our vetted Charity Partners who are still navigating the many requests for help as emergency government and other aid programs begin to wane. Even as the pandemic ebbs and flows across the United States the urgency of need remains elevated for the most at-risk communities seeking to survive, rebuild, and stabilize their families in this unpredictible time.
The Open Hearts Foundation is incredibly grateful to Jane Seymour and the team at As NOT Seen on TV, Drew Plotkin, and Launch DRTV for donating their services to create this PSA! www.launchdrtv.com
Since April 2020, we have provided four grant cycles of the Emergency Relief Fund. Read our press releases from 2020 and 2021 by clicking the buttons below:
Thanks to your donations, $464,550 has been invested in 23 charities!
Here are their stories:
Association to Benefit Children
The Foundation provided two grants ($25,000 in 2020 and $10,000 in 2021) to continue the support of the COVID-19 Disaster Response efforts focusing on the distribution of food and supplies, vaccination awareness efforts, mental health services, and vital family preservation services to families with children at the greatest risk of morbidity and mortality living below the poverty line in East Harlem and the South Bronx, New York.
Adelante Mujeres
The Foundation provided a $7,000 grant in 2020 to support the expansion of equitable access to nutritious food in their Nourish the Community Initiative for Latina women and their families across Washington County, Oregon.
Claire’s Place Foundation
The Foundation provided two matching grants ($15,000 in 2020 and $10,000 2021) to support children with Cystic Fibrosis and their families across the United States with food, extended stay stipends, medical supplies, workforce development resources, and emergency needs due to COVID-19. Our grant funds were doubled thanks to the response and care of their family of donors.
Creighton Community Foundation
The Foundation provided two grants to support children and their families in the low-income community of the Creighton School District in Phoenix, Arizona. First, a $15,000 matching grant in 2020 was leveraged to raise $200,000, which funded weekly nutritious food distributions to 200 vulnerable families. Since then, 40-50 volunteers show up every weekend to sort, haul and prepare the 40-70 pound food boxes, and have built a volunteer community of over 500 people supporting these weekend food distributions since. The program was so successful that in 2021, a second $10,000 grant was given to help ensure that these critical food distributions can continue.
A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project
The Foundation provided a $15,000 grant in 2020 and a $10,000 grant in 2022 to support necessities such as food, hygiene supplies, or furnishings in their new safe home for formerly incarcerated women and their children in South Los Angeles. They have provided housing to over 1,200 formerly incarcerated women since 1998.
CASA El Paso Inc.
The Foundation provided a $5,000 grant in 2020 and a $10,000 grant in 2022 to support costs of the COVID-19 recovery phase including advocating for and serving abused and neglected children in the El Paso child welfare system.
Alliance for Children’s Rights
The Foundation provided a $10,000 grant in 2021 to support the Transition Aged Youth Program which clears barriers to the most basic needs such as housing, mental and physical health care, and food support for teens and young adults in the foster care system in Los Angeles, California.
Children of Inmates
The Foundation provided a $12,000 grant in 2020 and a $10,000 grant in 2022 to directly support and assess issues, including recreational activities, shelter, clothing, educational needs, and visitation bonding sessions in service of children with an incarcerated parent in Miami Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Duval County, Tampa and Orlando, Florida.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
In the beginning of the pandemic, the Foundation provided a $5,000 grant to support their COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund to help provide specialized supplies, medical tests, expert care and technology for the children and families in their care.
Foster Angels of South Texas
The Foundation provided two grants. In 2020, a $15,000 grant to directly benefit over 60 children in foster care between the ages of 0-21 and provide them with laptops, recreational items, grocery assistance, new beds with bedding, clothing or hygienic items, and even rental assistance. In 2021, a $10,000 matching grant to continue to support children in foster care with food, recreational items, therapeutic care, new beds with bedding, clothing, and hygienic items. This grant was doubled thanks to the response of their family of donors.
City Youth Now
The Foundation provided two grants: a $10,550 grant in 2020 to directly support food and housing that promote stability, personal growth, and academic and career success for youth in the San Francisco Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems and in 2021, a $10,000 matching grant to directly support food and housing that promote stability, personal growth, and academic and career success for youth through the Personal Empowerment Program.
Childrens Lifesaving Foundation
The Foundation provided two matching grants in ($25,000 in 2020 and $10,000 in 2021) to support the Step Forward Family Emergency Fund Campaign, providing at-risk children and families in their Vita Network located thoughtout Los Angeles County. These funds helped provide shelter, groceries, financial stipends, and other basic essential needs immediately in this pandemic. Our grants were doubled each time providng more services for families in their care.
Harlem Children’s Zone
In 2020, the Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to support their continued efforts to provide food packages, remote learning access to students for continued learning in the home, and basic needs or direct services to families in the Zone.
Safe Alliance
The Foundation provided two $10,000 matching grants in 2020 and 2021to directly support domestic and sexual violence services as well as provide basic need items like clothing, soap, toiletries, or cleaning supplies to help families ensure a successful transition from its shelters in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. In the beginning of the pandemic, these funds were used to directly support the ongoing sanitation, cleaning, and supplies for domestic violence victims and survivors who were living in Safe Alliance's two shelter facilities, the Domestic Violence Shelter and the Safe Hotel.
Jenesse Center
In 2020, the Foundation provided a $10,000 matching grant to support the ongoing and increasing number of families seeking shelter and other mental health services due to the surge of domestic violence incidents surrounding the COVID-19 virus. These grant funds were doubled thanks to the response of their family of donors.
Lending Hearts
The Foundation provided two grants. In 2020, a $10,000 matching grant to directly support social and emotional services to children and young adults living with cancer, including monthly lunches, mental and behavioral health services, art therapy, and the comprehensive pediatric integrative oncology wellness program at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2021, a $10,000 matching grant to continue social and emotional services to children and young adults living with cancer. Each time, these grant funds were matched thanks to the generosity of their family of donors.
Mending Kids
The Foundation provided two grants. In 2020, $10,000 matching grant to support their tremendous efforts that provided medical supplies to clinics, doctors, and nurses on the frontlines in the early stages of the pandemic taking care of adults and children in the underserved populations of Los Angeles. In 2021, a $10,000 matching grant to support continued emergency distribution of medical supplies to clinics, doctors, and nurses on the frontlines of this pandemic as well as lifesaving medical needs for children in the underserved populations of the Greater Los Angeles area.
NAMI Central Texas
The Foundation provided a $10,000 grant in 2020 and a $10,000 grant in 2022 to bring critical mental health support to parents and caregivers whose children are experiencing a mental health crisis during this unprecedented time of fear, stress, and anxiety.
Redwood Empire Food Bank
In 2020, the Foundation provided a $15,000 grant and a $10,000 grant in 2022 to use exclusively for food purchases benefiting Every Child, Every Day programs which offer grab-and-go meals and care packages of groceries for children in the Sonoma County area.
Volunteer Center South Bay Harbor Long Beach
The Foundation provided two grants ($5,000 in 2020 and $10,000 in 2021) to directly support the Food For Kids volunteer and donation-driven food pantry as well as Connect, a mental and social health program for teens in low-income communities in the South Bay and Harbor area of Los Angeles County.
The Living Room
In 2020, the Foundation provided a $15,000 grant to purchase emergency supplies for homeless women and children in Santa Rosa, California such as personal hygiene items, clothing, toys, shoes, and nutrient dense food.
Voices for Children
The Foundation provided two $10,000 grants in 2020 and 2021 to provide emergency support for basic needs like food, clothing, beds/bedding, or toiletries for foster NICU infants and children in the Guardian ad Litem Program in Hillsborough County, Florida.
My Sisters’ Place
In 2020, the Foundation provided a $15,000 grant and a $10,000 grant in 2022 to support emergency client assistance such as grocery stipends, PPE equipment for staff, counseling services, outreach, and emergency shelter needs for survivors of domestic violence in the New York metropolitan area.
Open Hearts Philosophy
In this time of great challenge the Foundation was inspired by the Open Hearts Philosophy to accept what was happening and do what we could to help others. By doing so, together, we opened our hearts. We thank the countless donors, partners, and volunteers who have joined us in our mission in this very unpredictible time.
If you would like to donate to sustain our work, click the button!
How to Apply to the Emergency Relief Fund
From April to June 2020, the Foundation has accepted grant applications on a rolling basis in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of June 15, 2020, the application process is closed to ensure we can respond to the more than 70 charities that have submitted their application. Grant funds will range between $5,000 and $15,000 per non-profit.
The following are priority areas:
Serves vulnerable women and children populations impacted by covid-19 pandemic including low-income children and families, domestic violence victims, or low-wage workers.
Provides or will expand services to include emergency assistance (e.g. food, shelter, and other basic needs)
Demonstrated program outcomes and responsible use of funds
Nonprofits who may be at risk for gaps in funding due to the pandemic
The Foundation will not make grants for or to:
Direct aid to individuals
Influencing legislation or elections
Sectarian religious organizations or churches
Nonprofits not engaged in the actual performance of direct services to individuals. i.e. City Funds, Community Organizers, another philanthropic emergency fund
Organizations that discriminate on the basis of age, disability, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion
Building improvements or operational costs
As of June 15th, the application process is closed. We may consider additional applications at a future date. Submissions received have included a one page Letter of Intent including the following information:
Describe the need for funding, the community it will serve, and the anticipated impact.
Include a budget explaining how the amount requested will be used to serve.
Add the organization’s mission statement and annual budget.
Final Report:
The Open Hearts Foundation is responsible for the careful stewardship of our donors’ donations. Organizations receiving funding will submit a brief Final Report within a 90-day period to the Open Hearts Foundation explaining how the funds were used and the impact they achieved. Their stories will be shared with the public.
Email the Final Report to: info@openheartsfoundation.org
Volunteers Across the World Engaged in Volunteering in 2020 and 2021. We are Grateful!
Inspired by Katie Flynn, the Foundation and Jane Seymour challenged the world during the beginning of the pandemic to volunteer and help others. We designed the #OpenHeartedChallenge and we are so grateful for the engagement the challenge received from volunteers across the world. The positive ripple effect of a single act of kindness can make the largest impact, opening hearts and changing lives.
The Foundation is grateful to Forefront Living and Jane Seymour for taking on the #OpenHeartedChallenge and sharing the incredible story of Jeanie Fite. To learn more about this story, click here.
LOOK WHO’S TAKING THE #OPENHEARTEDCHALLENGE…
