2027 Copic Medical Foundation Application

Copic Medical Foundation

2027 Request for Proposals

Reducing Fragmentation in Healthcare Delivery

About Copic Medical Foundation

Copic Medical Foundation supports programs and initiatives that improve healthcare outcomes. Through its grantmaking, the Foundation seeks opportunities to strengthen healthcare delivery, improve patient safety and quality, and support work that can inform broader improvement across the healthcare community.

2027 Funding Opportunity

As healthcare delivery becomes increasingly complex, fragmentation remains a significant patient safety challenge. Fragmentation can occur wherever communication, workflows, or continuity of care break down, creating barriers that prevent patients and providers from achieving the best possible outcomes.

These breakdowns may occur between organizations, within healthcare systems, among care teams, or through disconnected processes, technologies, policies, or patient experiences. The consequences may include delayed treatment, duplicative services, preventable adverse events, inefficient care delivery, increased provider burden, and/or poor patient outcomes.

Healthcare delivery is ever evolving in response to advancements in medicine, changing patient needs, workforce challenges, technology, reimbursement structures, and other external factors. While these conditions shape the environment in which healthcare is delivered, Copic Medical Foundation remains focused on supporting projects that strengthen healthcare delivery through sustainable improvements in coordination, communication, patient safety, quality, and continuity of care.

The Foundation seeks innovative, systems-level approaches that address the underlying causes of fragmentation rather than temporary operational challenges. Competitive proposals must demonstrate measurable improvements in healthcare delivery, a clear pathway to sustainability beyond Foundation funding, and the potential for replication or adaptation in other organizations or healthcare settings.

Funding Priorities

Copic Medical Foundation invests in projects that create durable, systems-level improvements in healthcare delivery. The Foundation is interested in projects that solve problems at the systems level - not simply projects that help organizations manage them.

Competitive proposals should demonstrate:

• Measurable improvements in care coordination, continuity of care, patient safety, quality, and/or healthcare delivery;
• A clearly defined systems-level challenge contributing to fragmentation;
• A credible pathway to sustainability beyond Foundation funding;
• Potential for replication, adaptation, or broader adoption; and
• Meaningful evaluation that contributes to learning across the healthcare community.

Personnel costs 

Personnel costs may be included when they are essential to implementing a sustainable, replicable project or initiative. Requests intended primarily to maintain existing operations, replace ongoing staff needs, or respond to short-term operational or funding challenges are not competitive.

 What Copic Medical Foundation Does Not Fund

Copic Medical Foundation is committed to supporting impactful initiatives that align with the 2027 focus area and create sustainable, systems-level improvements in healthcare delivery. In general, the Foundation does not fund requests that are primarily for:

• Capital support, including building projects, renovations, major equipment purchases, or other capital improvements;
• General operating support, unrestricted funding requests, or ongoing organizational expenses not directly tied to a defined project, measurable outcomes, and a sustainability plan;
• Electronic health record (EHR) implementation, replacement, or technology-focused projects in which the primary objective is a system acquisition, deployment, or configuration rather than improving healthcare delivery, care coordination, or patient safety;
• Complete IT build-outs or technology infrastructure projects where the primary purpose is system purchase, implementation, or replacement rather than a broader care-delivery improvement project; 
• Short-term operational support or funding gaps that do not include a clear pathway to sustainability, replication, or broader adoption;
• Community outreach, education, or advocacy activities that are not directly connected to improving healthcare delivery, care coordination, patient safety, continuity of care, or producing sustained improvements beyond a one-time activity;
• Disease-specific awareness or advocacy initiatives that do not include a healthcare delivery improvement component;
• Lobbying, political activities, or advocacy efforts intended to influence legislation, regulation, or public policy;
• Projects that do not address healthcare delivery fragmentation through a systems-level, sustainable, and replicable approach; or
• Projects that are primarily conducted outside of the United States or do not otherwise meet the Foundation's geographic eligibility requirements.

Budget requests should clearly connect proposed expenses to the activities, outcomes, and sustainability plan for the project.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be nonprofit organizations or have an eligible fiscal sponsor, if applicable.
• Projects must serve communities within the United States and align with the Foundation's geographic eligibility requirements.
• Projects should address healthcare delivery fragmentation through a systems-level, sustainable, and replicable approach.

Grant Timeline and Logistics

RFP release date: November 2, 2026

Application deadline: January 15, 2027, 5pm MST

Award notifications: March 2027

Project period: 12 months

Typical grant size: $50,000-$250,000

Questions: Please email grants@copic.com

Funding Requests

Grant requests typically range from $50,000-$250,000. Applicants are encouraged to request the amount necessary to successfully implement and sustain the proposed project. Budgets should be reasonable, well-scoped, and clearly aligned with the proposed activities, outcomes, and sustainability plan.

Application Process

Applicants will submit proposals through the Copic Medical Foundation grants portal. The RFP is intended to provide an overview of the funding opportunity, focus area, priorities, timeline, and logistics. The full application, including proposal questions and required uploads, will be completed in the portal.

What Applicants Should Be Prepared to Provide

The full list of required information and uploads is available in the portal. Applicants should be prepared to provide information as described in the application overview. This includes:

• Organization and contact information;
• Project summary and amount requested;
• Description of fragmentation challenge the project will address;
• Project goals, activities, timeline, and partners;
• Approach to sustainability, replication, or broader adoption;
• Evaluation plan and anticipated outcomes;
• Project logic model;
• Project budget and budget narrative; and
• Required organizational or financial attachments, as applicable.

Review Considerations

Applications will be reviewed for alignment with the 2027 focus area and the Foundation's funding priorities. The Foundation anticipates considering factors such as:

• Strength of alignment with reducing fragmentation in healthcare delivery;
• Clarity and significance of the systems-level challenge;
• Potential impact on healthcare delivery, patient safety, quality, coordination, or continuity of care;
• Feasibility of the proposed approach and implementation plan;
• Sustainability beyond the grant period;
• Potential for replication, adaptation, or broader adoption; and
• Strength of the evaluation approach and contribution to field learning.

Questions

Questions about the 2027 RFP may be directed to grants@copic.com.