Moses Taylor Foundation Inc.

Moses Taylor Foundation operates as a deeply place-based health funder with an exclusive mandate to serve Northeastern Pennsylvania's 11-county region. Its giving philosophy centers on systemic, long-term impact through multi-year capacity-building partnerships rather than one-time project support. This orientation is unmistakable in the grantee data: Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers has received $1.16 million across 3 grants; Children's Service Center of Wyoming Valley collected $1.10 million across 4 grants; and Scranton Area Community Foundation accumulated $948,469 across 6 grants. Repeat funding is the norm among high-performing partners, signaling that sustained organizational relationships — not novelty — drive continued investment.

The Foundation's four strategic focus areas anchor every funding decision: Health Care Access and Quality, Older Adult Health, School-Based Health, and Nonprofit Effectiveness. The strongest proposals demonstrate clear alignment with at least one focus area while addressing a documented gap in the NEPA region. With approximately 94% of its 207 recorded grants flowing to Pennsylvania organizations — predominantly Lackawanna and Luzerne counties — applicants from outside the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre corridor should work harder to establish regional presence and community partnerships before applying.

The mandatory pre-submission meeting is the real entry point. Before writing a single word of a proposal, every applicant must contact the appropriate program officer: Christine Marcos (cmarcos@mosestaylorfoundation.org) for School-Based Health, Older Adult Health, and Community-Wide Nonprofit Effectiveness; Lisa Savero (lsavero@mosestaylorfoundation.org) for Health Care Access and Quality and Organization-Specific Nonprofit Effectiveness. Email with the subject line 'Proposal Meeting Request.' This conversation helps staff gauge alignment and may redirect your approach — it is non-negotiable, not a formality.

For organizations new to the Foundation, the Rolling Grant pathway (under $40,000, year-round) offers an accessible first engagement. Rolling applications require only an organizational profile, executive summary, and project budget — a lighter lift than Open Cycle — and typically generate decisions within 30 days. Establishing credibility through a successful Rolling Grant before pursuing an Open Cycle request of $40,000 or more is a widely recommended first-time strategy. Open Cycle grants follow a structured four-step process — pre-submission meeting, electronic submission, 45-minute virtual proposal meeting with staff and board, board decision — making relationship quality and verbal presentation skill material factors in funding outcomes.

Moses Taylor Foundation distributes approximately $3.9–$4.1 million in direct grants annually from an asset base of roughly $71–79 million. Annual grants paid have been: $4.06M (FY2022), $4.08M (FY2021), $3.98M (FY2020), $3.00M (FY2019), and $3.24M (FY2018). Total giving figures — which include program-related expenditures beyond direct grants — ranged from $4.2M to $5.7M in normal years, with a notable FY2020 spike to $9.55M reflecting aggressive COVID-19 emergency response investment.

Across 207 recorded grants totaling $16.2 million, the average grant is $78,237. The distribution is broad: smaller Rolling Grants typically fall in the $15,000–$40,000 range; Open Cycle grants commonly cluster between $75,000 and $200,000 per cycle; and multi-year capital/expansion investments for established anchor institutions have reached $250,000 or more per grant. The 2025 Mental Health RFP deployed $2.13 million across 9 organizations at $113,000–$300,000 each over two years, illustrating the high end of cohort-based grantmaking.

Sector-level analysis of the top-50 grantees reveals this approximate distribution of recorded giving: community/primary health access and FQHCs (~38%); behavioral and counseling services (~14%); nonprofit capacity building and intermediaries (~12%); older adult services (~10%); healthcare workforce and education (~10%); food security, housing, and human services (~9%); and emergency response, media, and advocacy (~7%).

Geographically, Lackawanna County (Scranton) organizations dominate the grantee list, followed by Luzerne County (Wilkes-Barre). Together these two counties represent an estimated 75% of all recorded grantmaking. Wayne, Susquehanna, Wyoming, Monroe, Carbon, Pike, Sullivan, and Columbia counties receive support but are underrepresented relative to their share of the regional population — organizations serving these outlying areas should explicitly frame multi-county geographic reach and document community need with local data. The Foundation dedicates a minimum of half its resources to broad community-responsive health needs within the 11-county region, with community-responsive grants prioritizing primary healthcare, mental/behavioral health, dental care, healthcare workforce, and human services.

The following table compares Moses Taylor Foundation to its closest asset-size peers, all of which are regional health foundations with similar endowment levels:

Moses Taylor Foundation stands out among its asset-size peers as one of the most transparent and accessible regional health foundations of its size in the United States. It maintains an open application cycle for both Rolling and Open Cycle grants, a searchable grant database going back to 2015, and detailed public guidelines with named staff contacts — advantages that most comparable health-conversion foundations do not offer. The explicit pre-submission meeting requirement, while demanding, reflects a relationship-driven model that rewards early engagement and organizational preparation. Its strict geographic mandate to an 11-county NEPA region means far less competition for available grant dollars than a state-wide or national health funder with similar assets would generate.

Moses Taylor Foundation has been active on multiple fronts in 2024 and 2025. The most significant programmatic development was the March 2025 conclusion of its Mental Health Service Access and Availability RFP, which deployed $2.13 million to nine Northeastern Pennsylvania organizations receiving two-year grants of $113,000 to $300,000 each. This RFP was launched in October 2024 and represents the Foundation's most targeted single-issue investment in recent memory.

In July 2025, Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers received a $150,000 grant to expand its Integrated Behavioral Health Program — the latest in a multi-grant relationship that has now totaled over $1.16 million across three awards, underscoring the Foundation's preference for sustained partnerships with high-performing health centers.

In March 2025, the Pennsylvania Association of School Nurses and Practitioners awarded Moses Taylor Foundation its 2025 Friend of School Nursing Award, recognizing the Foundation's cumulative $1.7 million investment in school nursing through funding, advocacy, workforce development, and mentorship programs. The Foundation also released an active Request for Proposals for a School Nurse Advocacy Consultant, signaling continued commitment to this strategic lever.

On the staffing front, Will Craven joined as Operations and Grants Officer in November 2025. As of early 2026, the Foundation's website notes an ongoing President and CEO search, suggesting a leadership transition that prospective grantees should monitor closely. The Foundation confirmed that no additional RFPs are planned for FY2025–2026, with the April 10, 2026 Open Cycle deadline (decisions expected by June 18, 2026) as the primary near-term opportunity for larger-grant applicants.

Schedule your pre-submission meeting immediately. Every application path — Rolling and Open Cycle — requires a meeting with Foundation staff before submission. For the April 10, 2026 Open Cycle deadline, this conversation must be completed by March 27, 2026. Email the right person: Christine Marcos (cmarcos@mosestaylorfoundation.org) for School-Based Health, Older Adult Health, or Community-Wide Nonprofit Effectiveness; Lisa Savero (lsavero@mosestaylorfoundation.org) for Health Care Access and Quality or Organization-Specific Nonprofit Effectiveness. Use the exact subject line 'Proposal Meeting Request.'

Start with a Rolling Grant if you are new to the Foundation. A sub-$40,000 Rolling Grant requires only an organizational profile, executive summary, and project budget — no full narrative, no audited financials. Decisions arrive within approximately 30 days. A successful Rolling Grant creates the organizational track record and staff relationship that materially strengthens a subsequent Open Cycle application.

Align explicitly with focus areas in your executive summary. The Foundation lists Mission Alignment as its first evaluation criterion. Use exact focus-area language from the website — 'Health Care Access and Quality,' 'School-Based Health,' 'Older Adult Health,' or 'Nonprofit Effectiveness' — in the first paragraph of your executive summary. Do not leave alignment implicit.

Lead with population health outcomes, not activities. Moses Taylor's mission is to 'improve the health of people in Northeastern Pennsylvania.' Translate your program activities into measurable health outcomes: patients served, coverage rates, reduction in ER utilization, change in health indicators, reductions in social isolation. Reviewers specifically assess whether goals are 'clear, realistic, and measurable.'

Show your sustainability plan in the budget narrative. The Foundation explicitly evaluates whether budgets 'reasonably reflect the organization's ability to sustain the project beyond the grant period.' Include 2–3 sentences explaining how the work continues after grant funding ends — through earned revenue, other funders, institutional budget, or policy change.

Name your collaborators and attach letters of support. The grantee list is full of intermediaries and collaborative organizations (Scranton Area Community Foundation, United Way, AllOne Charities). The Foundation values collaborative approaches and assesses whether organizations demonstrate 'commitment to collaboration and learning.' Named partners with attached support letters strengthen proposals measurably.

For mental/behavioral health proposals: No new RFP is planned for FY2025–2026, but mental and behavioral health access remains explicitly among the Foundation's community-responsive priorities. Open Cycle proposals in this space remain eligible and competitive given the Foundation's recent $2.13M investment in the area.