Deaconess seeks to create conditions where liberation is the lived reality within seven generations. A ministry of the United Church of Christ, Deaconess has invested more than $96 million to improve the health of the St. Louis community since 1998. Our grants and cultivated relationships support the accelerated change in conditions through policy, advocacy, and/or organizing efforts building and wielding power to transform systems to respond to the will of the people. The Foundation’s advocacy and grantmaking footprint includes St. Louis City, St. Louis, Jefferson, St. Charles and Franklin Counties in Missouri and Madison, St. Clair and Monroe Counties in Illinois.
Our Mission
In the spirit of our faith heritage, the mission of Deaconess Foundation is the improved health of the Metropolitan St. Louis community and its people.
Our Vision
Deaconess Foundation envisions a community that values the health and well-being of all and gives priority attention to the most invisibilized. This community only thrives if the allocation of power and distribution of resources, benefits, opportunities and burdens are not predictable by, nor predicated on race.
Our Values
Justice
We believe a just society is essential for the full achievement of individual and community health.
Hope
We believe that positive health changes can occur through cooperative, intentional and well-planned efforts.
Service
We believe the opportunity to serve is a gift with which we have been blessed, and all our interactions should embody that spirit.
Identity
We believe our tradition and history as a ministry of the United Church of Christ should inform and help shape our work.
Faithfulness
We believe our decisions and actions should reflect a faith commitment based on God's living presence in the world, continuing revelation, and call to servanthood.
