Community Investments & Partnerships

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is committed to making Upstate New York a better place to live, work and raise a family. As a nonprofit health plan, our mission is to provide access to affordable health care and continually improve the health and health care of residents in the communities we serve.

Our community investment opportunities strive to address disparities that impact our members and the communities in which they live. While we are unified in our mission to help people live healthier, more secure lives, our diverse approaches consider the prevailing challenges in each region.

Our 2024 focus areas will support investments in our community, with Event Sponsorships and Health and Wellness Awards.

Supporting Our Community

Our Community Investments and Partnerships work is supported by three strategic pillars:

Customer service: We strive to provide our partners with outstanding customer service that supports the work they do
Impact: We work to ensure meaningful, measurable impact for our members and the communities we serve
Partnerships: We advance partnerships with community-based organizations that help people lead healthier lives

These three pillars support our efforts to impact the community through Event Sponsorships, Health and Wellness Awards, Health Equity Innovation Awards, Employee Volunteerism, and Member and Community Health Improvement (MACHI) Grants.

Event Sponsorships (Year-Round)

These opportunities are for applicants seeking funding for events that support activities that align with our mission to help people lead healthier and more secure lives through access to high quality, affordable health care. Event sponsorship examples include fundraisers, health fairs, health seminars, galas, and summits.

Submit Application Application Rules/Requirements

Health and Wellness Awards (Year-Round)

These opportunities support programs that conduct ongoing work or initiatives designed to improve health and ultimately health outcomes. Given that most disparities are due to many causes, preference is given to programs that address specific health conditions and/or factors linked to health disparities .

Submit Application Application Rules/Requirements

Health Equity Innovation Awards

These awards focus on innovative initiatives that address disparities in health care and improve health outcomes. The target population for these awards are for underserved groups at highest risk for experiencing poor health outcomes. These include racial and ethnic communities, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, veterans, refugees, and rural communities. Project initiatives require clear metrics for demonstrating improved outcomes and reporting.

Applications are now closed. Stay tuned for future opportunities!

Member and Community Health Improvement (MACHI) Grant Program

The MACHI grant program provides funding to local, nonprofit organizations that share our vision for healthier communities. These 2- to 3-year grants support initiatives with specific objectives and measurable outcomes for improving health. Our current focus is on reducing racial disparities in maternal health.

Read about the 2022 MACHI Grant Recipients

Employee Volunteerism

Employee volunteerism aligns with our company’s vision and values of improving the health of our community.

Excellus BCBS provides employees with volunteer time off hours to cultivate community connections through volunteer service, engage with the community via board membership and help nurture meaningful community relationships.

Contact the Community Investments and Partnerships Team:

Rochester (Monroe, Wayne, Livingston, Ontario, Yates and Seneca counties)

Matthew Wagstaff, Matthew.Wagstaff@excellus.com

Southern Tier (Chenango, Broome, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties):

CommunityInvestments@excellus.com

Central New York (Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Cortland and Tompkins counties):

Robyn Smith, Robyn.Smith@Excellus.com

Utica/North Country (St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Hamilton, Herkimer, Fulton, Oneida, Madison, Montgomery, Otsego and Delaware counties):

Andrea MacDiarmid, Andrea.Macdiarmid@excellus.com

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield receives hundreds of corporate giving requests every year. Each corporate giving request that benefits a charitable organization will be reviewed. Our corporate giving must follow all applicable laws, regulations, and corporate policies and refrains from contributing to political organizations, political candidates and labor unions (unless the payees are registered 501(c)(3) charitable organizations). In addition, we will not fund organizations that conflict with our corporate mission, goals, policies or products, including organizations that discriminate against persons or groups on the basis of age, political affiliation, race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS status or religion.

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield’s 31-county region includes: Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Cortland, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Otsego, Oswego, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne and Yates counties.