The Healthy Aging Challenge, a follow up to the 2019 Healthy Allegheny Challenge, is a competition sponsored by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. It will provide four awards of $500K each ($2 million total) to improve the quality of life for older adults in southwestern Pennsylvania. Awardees will become part of a cohort that meets no more than quarterly over a twelve-month period to share learning and, if appropriate, explore areas for future collaboration. The Challenge is part of the Henry L. Hillman Foundation’s broader goal of expanding its portfolio to support healthy aging in the region.

We are seeking to support transformative, feasible, equitable, and scalable projects that can be sufficiently implemented to show some evidence of results within a twelve-month period. Projects may center on, but are not limited to, the following focus areas:

• Age-friendly community development, including aging in place  
• Age-friendly economic development 
• Civic participation and volunteerism for older adults
• Intergenerational programming
• Reducing ageism and social isolation
• Skill-building and employment for professional caregivers
• Technology for caregivers
• Technology for older adults

Teams may propose to address multiple focus areas, or propose their own, provided that it meets the criteria laid out in the scoring rubric.

Projects must also:

• Be geographically located in southwestern Pennsylvania (which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties)

• Include members of the communities impacted by the project – such as an older adult or caregiver – as part of the project team.

Applications are welcome from organizations that:

• Have a recognized legal existence and structure under applicable law (State, Federal or Country) and that are in good standing in the jurisdiction under which they are organized  
• Are recognized under section 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) or (2) of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) (excluding private foundations) and have received a tax determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).  
• Are based in the United States or its territories and serve communities in the United States or its territories.

Please note that while organizations from across the United States may apply, projects must be based in southwestern Pennsylvania.  

Individuals, organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) or 509(a)(1) or (2) status, and private foundations are not eligible to apply. However, for-profit entities, government agencies, individuals, and non-501c3 educational institutions may serve as partners on an application submitted by an eligible entity.  

First, review the Challenge materials and eligibility requirements to ensure you are a good fit for this opportunity. Then register no later than Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at 5:00 PM Eastern. Registration is required and is a simple two-step process. First, create a username and password and then check your inbox to confirm your registration. Next, complete the online registration form. Once you are registered, you may submit your application online no later than Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at 5:00 PM Eastern.

In additional to submitting a completed application, eligible applicants will be asked to review and provide feedback on five other proposals submitted by their peers. This will take roughly 4-5 hours over a period of three weeks. Additional resources and training will be provided. More information is available on the timeline and evaluation pages.

Awardees will also become part of a learning cohort that meets no more than quarterly over the project period.  

No, eligible organizations may only submit one application each. However, they may also serve as partners on another organization’s proposal.  There is no limit to the number of applications in which an organization may serve as a partner provided the proposed projects are distinct and separate, and there is no overlap between the key team members.

Once the submission deadline passes, the Healthy Aging Challenge team will perform an administrative review to confirm each submission meets the rules and application requirements before advancing to Peer-to-Peer Review.

During Peer-to-Peer Review, each lead applicant will be required to score and comment on five applications from other organizations. Top-scoring applications will move on to the Evaluation Panel and receive an additional review and comments from five judges. All reviewers will use the scoring rubric, and all scores will be statistically normalized to ensure fairness.

Henry L. Hillman Foundation will review the top-scoring submissions and request additional information as needed to select four awardees. Each awardee will receive a $500,000 grant and become part of a yearlong learning cohort.

Early-stage projects will be considered provided that they a). meet the criteria laid out in the scoring rubric, and b). can realistically be implemented with some evidence of results within twelve months of funding. Per the scoring rubric, successful proposals will balance ambition with feasibility. Formal studies validating the proposed approach are not required, but teams will need to clearly and persuasively articulate why they are confident their project will work. Formal or informal studies, observations, and other indicators of change as defined by the impacted communities are welcome, as are references to external sources.

Funds must be used for the solution described in the application, and may not be used for:

• Lobbying
• Creating an endowment
• Indirect costs (overhead is allowed at up to 15% of the total project budget)

Conferences, networking events, and convenings generally should not exceed 5% of the total project budget. Additional allowance may be made if the convenings are a critical component of the project.  

Additional restrictions are outlined in the Henry L. Hillman Foundation’s sample grant agreement.

Once you have registered, and throughout the competition, we will send important notifications to the email address associated with your account, as well as the primary and secondary contacts listed on your registration form. There are three critical steps you can take to make sure these messages are received promptly: 

1. Add the Healthy Aging Challenge email to your contacts. 
2. Whitelist the Healthy Aging Challenge email. Instructions on how to add to your whitelist, covering most major email providers, are here. 
3. Update your registration form right away if one of your contacts changes. If you need to make a contact change after the application window has closed, please email us and we will assist you. 

If you need assistance completing the registration and/or application process, please contact us. We encourage people with disabilities representing organizations to apply to the Healthy Aging Challenge. We provide accommodations as needed.