Our Story

Our Story / Our History / Guiding Principles

Driven by a vision for a healthier Wisconsin, the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) reaches statewide, propelling the most promising work and ideas to build a healthier Wisconsin for generations to come.

We advance research that improves lives. We help educate future health leaders for all of Wisconsin. And in communities statewide, we help partners create real change, leading to better policies, systems, and programs so we can all enjoy better health.

We call our work changemaking. It’s a focus that drives everything we do, and that helps us say that every day, in ways both big and small, AHW is changing lives for the better.

Our history

Our roots have always been in health. The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment was established by the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2004 to receive a portion of the charitable funds from the conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit corporation. The proceeds of the sale were generously gifted to Wisconsin’s two medical schools – MCW and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health – on behalf of the people of Wisconsin.

AHW proudly calls the MCW School of Medicine home. It is this strategic placement in the fourth largest private medical school in the nation – within Wisconsin’s largest private research institution – that enables us to steward this gift, combining the power of philanthropy with that of academic medicine to serve as a catalyst for positive change statewide.

Since issuing our first funding awards in 2004, AHW has invested more than $243 million in nearly 400 projects focused on community health improvement, research, and health workforce education.

guiding principles

Our Mission

Working with our partners, AHW will serve as a catalyst for positive change in the health of Wisconsin communities.

Our Vision

Advancing Wisconsin to be the healthiest state in the nation.

Our Principles

Collaboration

Supporting effective collaboration between community and Medical College of Wisconsin partners to broaden program impact throughout the state and to enhance the translation of knowledge into community practice.

Transformation

Identifying initiatives that will enhance the health of our communities through research, education, and engagement locally, statewide, and indirectly, nationally and internationally. Effecting systematic change by emphasizing prevention, innovation, and capacity building.

Stewardship

Expecting excellence as our investments measure and account for outcomes through effective oversight and rigorous evaluation. Maximizing impact as priorities are identified, new knowledge is generated, translated and disseminated, and additional resources are leveraged to support continued success.