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New York, NY (September 23, 2025) — In a time of growing need and uncertainty, The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation is responding with 18 new grants from two of its signature programs to support early-stage, pre-evidence innovations in care.
The Hillman Emergent Innovation (HEI) program, which focuses on bold, nursing-driven interventions that improve the health and healthcare of all people, especially marginalized populations, will award a total of $400,000 to eight projects. The Hillman Emergent Innovation: Serious Illness and End of Life (HSEI) program, which is funded collaboratively with The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, will award 10 grants totaling $525,000.
“The emergent innovation awards continue to address a critical gap in philanthropy by providing essential resources for bold, untested ideas,” says Rachael Watman, vice president of programs at The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation. “We received a record number of high-quality applications in 2025, which reflects the demand for this type of funding and the growth of innovative ideas during these turbulent times.”
The funded projects will address a range of issues including maternal health, opioid use disorder, mental health, advance care planning, family caregiver support, intimate partner violence, chronic disease management, and palliative care. For a list of grants and principal investigators, please see below.
“This is the fifth year of our remarkable collaboration with The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, and we are pleased that interest in serious illness and end of life has been strong and the program is having an impact,” said Michael Murray, president of The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. “These new strategies are helping build an evidence base that will help ensure that more people can receive dignified and culturally competent care during some of the most difficult moments in their lives.”
About The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation
The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation advances bold, nursing-driven innovations that promote equitable, person-centered, and trustworthy care. It is committed to helping ignite and develop game-changing interventions and cultivating a vibrant ecosystem of nurse innovators, grantees, and partners dedicated to building a healthier future for all. For more information, please visit www.rahf.org.
About The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations were organized in 1952 and are supported by two trusts established by Mr. Arthur Vining Davis. The Foundations aim to bear witness to Mr. Davis’ successful corporate leadership and his ambitious philanthropic vision. Since their inception, the Foundations have given over 3,800 grants totaling more than $300 million to colleges and universities, hospitals, medical schools, and divinity schools. For more information, please visit www.avdf.org.
Media Contact
Takouhi Mosoian, The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation (press@rahf.org)
To help us in the evaluation and analysis of projects, all proposals, documents, communications, and associated materials submitted to The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation (collectively, “Submission Materials”) will become the property of the Foundation and will be shared with other members of the Advisory Committee, Board of Directors, and other funding partners or potential funding partners. We will report publicly on the number of applications received.
The proposals, in addition to analysis by our staff and consultants, may be subject to confidential external review by independent subject-matter experts, potential co-funders, and (for educational purposes only) participants in the Hillman Scholars Program for Nursing Innovation. Please carefully consider the information included in the Submission Materials. If you have any doubts about the wisdom of disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we recommend you consult with legal counsel and take any steps you deem necessary to protect your intellectual property. You may wish to consider whether such information is critical for evaluating the submission, and whether more general, non-confidential information may be adequate as an alternative for these purposes.
We respect confidential information we receive. Nonetheless, notwithstanding your characterization of any information as being confidential, we may publicly disclose all information contained in Submission Materials to the extent as may be required by law and as is necessary for potential co-funders and external reviewers to evaluate them and the manner and scope of potential funding, consistent with appropriate regulations and their internal guidelines and policies.
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