American Heart Association The Social
Impact Funds
Shifting the Health Inequity Paradigm
in America
In 2018, the American Heart Association launched its first impact fund to support community-based solutions that reduce social and economic barriers to health equity. The AHA’s impact investment strategy complements our lifesaving work of nearly 100 years by addressing nonmedical, social and economic barriers that cause many people to develop heart disease and have shorter, unhealthier lives.
The AHA’s Impact Investment Group is expanding the pool of changemakers by supporting initiatives developed within communities. Funds are invested in evidence-based, sustainable solutions led by local nonprofits and small businesses across diverse markets and issues.
The Social Impact Fund
The American Heart Association is investing in local entrepreneurs and organizations that are breaking down the social and economic barriers to health equity.
The Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund
A national fund with a local investment focus supporting and investing in evidence-based, locally led solutions that contribute to equity in health care.
The American Heart Association has created social impact funds that reimagine the approach to community transformation to combat social determinants of health through three key impact lenses focused on results.
By their nature, social determinants of health and their roots in structural legacy systems are interrelated. For example, transportation is often a barrier to accessing health services, and at the same time transportation solutions can impact climate and environmental health.
To clearly address the priority investment categories, the following three areas will shape these targeted efforts, acknowledging that many solutions will make an impact across the outlined topics.
Driving Lasting Impact
The choices people make about their health, or the health of their loved ones, are often based on available options. Solutions that increase access to healthy food, places to be active, clean air, safe water and other essential benefits—especially in areas with the greatest need—can help dismantle systemic barriers and move the United States toward health equity.
By adopting an investment approach that overcomes the many systemic challenges within the health funding sector and expands the pool of local solutions, the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Funds will spark the growth of scalable, evidence-based solutions to the social determinants of health.