Solutions for Healthy Communities

Solutions for Healthy Communities (SHC) is our global grants program focused on investing in innovative solutions to advance equitable access to health around the world.

Jump to application FAQs.

SHC: grounded in the power of communities

Our company has made a public commitment to advance access to health care for people in low- and middle-income countries and for underserved populations in high-income countries. As part of that access to health commitment, we launched SHC in 2023 to catalyze innovation in community-led solutions that build capacity and generate sustainable, scalable impact. Read about our new grants to help improve global access to care.

SHC is grounded in the belief that local organizations know their communities best and are uniquely positioned to create meaningful, lasting change in the regions where they work.

How SHC drives access to health

  • Empowering people and communities with health knowledge
  • Designing, testing, and/or implementing models of care
  • Building capacity of health workers
  • Strengthening health systems and sustainability

Selection process

We select grantee organizations whose work aligns with our company’s Access to Health commitment. Enabling access to a safe and healthy future is core to our purpose of saving and improving lives around the world. SHC intentionally recognizes and invests in community expertise, supporting innovative, community-led solutions that address local priorities. View our guidelines. Learn more in our FAQs below.

2026 grant recipients

Our second SHC cohort is comprised of 32 projects as listed below. Selection prioritized projects that drive measurable improvements in closing gaps in care in communities where our company operates and that integrate local health expertise and community leadership into project design and implementation. Over two years, these projects will strengthen health systems and support scalable, community-driven solutions, funded by an $8.5 million grant pool.

United States (including Puerto Rico)  

  • Community Volunteers in Medicine
  • Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services
  • I Be Black Girl
  • New England Medical Association
  • The Foundation for Delaware County
  • Tigerlily Foundation
  • Trenton Health Team, Inc. 
  • Trinitas Foundation 
  • VOCES Coalicion de Vacunacion de PR 
  • YWCA Northern New Jersey 

Latin America 

  • Fondo de las Naciones Unidas Para la Infancia, Colombia
  • Fundacion Peruana de Cancer, Peru
  • Pro Mujer, Inc., Mexico and Argentina
  • Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Hospital Albert Einstein, Brazil
  • United Nations Population Fund, Dominican Republic 

Europe and Canada 

  • Asociatia Coalitia Organizatiilor 
    Pacientilor cu Afectiuni Cronice, Romania
  • International Organization for Migration, Slovakia
  • PHA Europe, European Pulmonary Hypertension Association, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Bosnia-Herzegovina
  • Social Innovation Wien, Austria
  • Tunne rintasi ry, Finland 

Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa 

  • BIO Ventures for Global Health, Kenya and Nigeria
  • Caritas Egypt, Egypt
  • Childhood Cancer Society of Ghana, Ghana
  • Global Health Development GHD|EMPHNET, Iraq
  • Population Services International, Ethiopia
  • The Israeli Lung Cancer Foundation, Israel
  • World Learning, Inc., Algeria 

Japan, China and Asia Pacific 

  • Access Health International, Inc., India
  • Asia Dengue Voice and Action Ltd, Thailand and Philippines
  • Institute of HIV Research and Innovation, Thailand
  • Breast Cancer Welfare Association Malaysia, Malaysia
  • Youth Link Social Enterprise Company Limited, Vietnam

Previous grant recipients

United States

  • Beebe Medical Center Inc. d/b/a Beebe Healthcare
  • Blue Ridge Free Clinic, Inc.
  • Comie En Union para Salvadorenos (CEUS)
  • Community Servings, Inc.
  • Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Inc.
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
  • Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation
  • University of Nebraska Foundation
  • HMH Hospitals Corporation
  • Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway
  • Saint Francis Foundation
  • Valley Youth House Committee, Inc.
  • Wesley Shelter, Inc.

Latin America

  • Friends of Puerto Rico
  • Fundación Mexicana Para la Salud, A.C.
  • Fundación Plan Ecuador
  • Impulso
  • UNICEF – Guatemala
  • UNICEF – Peru

Europe and Canada

  • Foundation Center for Health Policies and Services
  • Kilkenny Cancer Support Centre Ltd
  • Ovacome
  • Sexual Health West
  • United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Serbia

Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa

  • Association Dar Zhor
  • Business for Health Solutions, International, Inc.
  • Cancer Buddies NPC
  • The King Hussein Cancer Foundation
  • Last Mile Health
  • Mersal Foundation
  • Shel Bar – The Sarit Levy and Bracha Rosenberg z”l organization for Women’s Cancer (RA)

Japan, China and Asia Pacific

  • Kenan Foundation Asia
  • National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
  • Place Tokyo
  • Vishwanath Cancer Care Foundation
  • Yayasan Jalin Komunikasi Indonesia (Jalin Foundation)

Frequently asked questions

What are the characteristics of a successful grant applicant?

Grant applicants must be consistent with the following:

  • They seek to expand health care access via community-led solutions that reach historically underserved populations.
  • They implement innovative solutions in their community to improve the reach and impact of health services.
  • Those solutions should drive impact across therapeutic areas, including, but not limited to, oncology, vaccines, infectious disease or diabetes.

The SHC team recognizes that organizations know the health needs of their community best and, as such, will evaluate grant proposals based on the information communicated in the proposal.

Who is eligible to apply for an SHC grant?

Eligible applicants are designated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, are within 50 miles of a Merck site and have program objectives that align with SHC’s goal to advance access to health care for historically underserved populations.

How can my organization apply?

Applications for the 2026-2027 SHC cohort opened January 13, 2025, and closed February 28, 2025. Bookmark this page to find out when our next application period opens.

How are applications evaluated?

Proposals are evaluated based on criteria, including, but not limited to, clarity of objectives and outcomes, demonstrated understanding of locally relevant barriers and opportunities to advance access to health care for specific underserved population groups, demonstrated capacity and capabilities to carry out proposed activities, anticipated reach and opportunities to leverage, scale and sustain efforts beyond this grant.

What is the term length of the grant?

Cohort 2’s grants run from January 2026 through December 2027. This is a two-year funding commitment.