Scott Alarcón, CEO of Georgetown Health Foundation, speaking about the foundation’s philanthropy in Georgetown
“We want all to be empowered, to thrive,” Georgetown Health Foundation CEO Scott Alarcón said during a lunchtime presentation with Georgetown residents in October.
Sponsored by Frost Bank, the lunch put a spotlight on The Georgetown Health Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the health of those in need in Williamson County.
"What makes the nonprofit unique, Mr. Alarcón said, is the way it funds its endeavors. Instead of traditional fundraising, he said the nonprofit uses “a three-legged asset stool.”
Funds are generated through recurring revenue from a stock and bond portfolio, a 1 percent ownership stake in St. David’s Hospital and real estate assets.
“We have purely nonprofit, mission driven commercial properties and then we have fully commercial properties,” Mr. Alarcón said.
The Foundation gives between $2.5 million and $3 million each year in grants back to other nonprofits in Georgetown.
“Since we've started making grants in our new entity as Georgetown Health Foundation, we've returned approximately $36 million… to my best guess is 60 or 75 c3 nonprofits in Georgetown.”
Nancy Krenek, the Founder of ROCK, said her organization has received funding from the Georgetown Health Foundation. She said the foundation walks Georgetown nonprofits through the process of finding their direction and applying for grants in a special way.
“I've been on this journey a long time with y'all, what I have experienced is that y'all are committed to making us better,” Ms. Krenek said. “[The Georgetown Health Foundation] saw that we couldn't answer the [grant] questions without training. So what has happened for the nonprofits that have needed that support, is the Georgetown Health Foundation has invested in us. I'm a different kind of a person and a leader because of that investment. It's not just been the funds, it's been the footwork.”
Mr. Alarcón said the foundation believes “money isn’t everything.”
“We believe health is the ultimate currency for our community, and so we're focused on improving that for all,” he said.
In 2022, the foundation changed the old Carver Elementary School into the Carver Center for Families, which provides counseling services to families in need.
“[At the Carver Center for Families] the focus is on five specific protective factors, criminal resilience, social emotional competence of children, knowledge of child development, social connections and concrete support for parents.”
The building now has counseling programs by the Georgetown Project. The WIC program is also run out of the building which provides supplemental nutrition to young children, postpartum breastfeeding and non breastfeeding postpartum women. This WIC program now serves 2,000 women per month.
The Georgetown Health Foundation’s efforts have also included helping GISD bring mental health counselors into schools. The program resulted in an improvement of school attendance and grades. The Georgetown Health Foundation funded the counseling program its first six years, until the district was able to fund the program.