What Anthem Foundation does

Anthem Foundation (legally Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation) is a private, nonprofit philanthropic foundation headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, and operated as the charitable arm of Elevance Health (NYSE: ELV), the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans. The foundation does not sell products or services; its core function is to disburse grants that support community health, maternal health, behavioral health, food security, and health equity initiatives aligned with Elevance Health's broader corporate responsibility strategy. Its operating model consists of identifying nonprofit partners with established programmatic infrastructure and providing multi-year grant funding to scale or extend their work into specific geographies or populations.

The foundation's documented active portfolio is concentrated in two recent initiatives. In April 2026, it awarded a $300,000 three-year grant to Partnership to End Addiction to develop and launch BabySTEPs, a digital helpline offering confidential text-based support via short code 55753 to pregnant and postpartum individuals facing substance use challenges, initially in New York State with stated nationwide expansion intent. That same month, it invested $100,000 in the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE) to expand food and basic-needs insecurity interventions across Virginia's 23 community colleges, an extension of a partnership dating to 2018. Underlying technology is minimal — the foundation's "products" are funded programs delivered by partner NGOs rather than proprietary platforms — and the foundation operates with a small staff (1–10 employees). As a wholly controlled subsidiary foundation, it has no independent external shareholders; capital is sourced from its parent corporation.

Name

Anthem Foundation

Legal name

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation

Website

https://anthemcorporateresponsibility.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Anthem Foundation is the Indianapolis-based nonprofit philanthropic arm of Elevance Health that awards grants to NGO partners for community health, maternal health, food security, and substance use programs, including the BabySTEPs digital helpline and Virginia community college food insecurity initiatives.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Philanthropy & Health Grants

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Foundations & CSR Grantmaking (BPAGAKAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL), Maternal, Child & Family Health Program Funding (HLAJALAG)

Keywords

• Community health grants
• Philanthropic foundation
• Maternal health programs
• Food insecurity funding
• Health equity initiatives

Headquarters

HQ city

Indianapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Anthem Foundation is the corporate charitable foundation of Elevance Health. It does not sell products or services; instead, it awards restricted grants to nonprofit organizations that run community health programs in maternal health, substance use intervention, food security, and health equity. The foundation's primary funded offerings include the BabySTEPs Digital Helpline for pregnant and postpartum individuals facing substance use challenges and statewide food/basic-needs security initiatives at Virginia's community colleges.

Product overview

Anthem Foundation operates as a philanthropic organization that funds community health programs and initiatives rather than developing commercial technology products. The foundation provides grants to partner organizations for specific health-related programs. BabySTEPs Digital Helpline is a funded program that provides text-based support services for substance use challenges among pregnant and postpartum individuals. The foundation also supports food security and basic needs programs at community colleges through partnerships with organizations like the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• BabySTEPs Digital Helpline Confidential text-based helpline providing support to pregnant and postpartum individuals facing substance use challenges in New York State, with planned nationwide expansion. Users text 55753 (English: 'BABY'; Spanish: 'BEBE') to access services. The program is specifically designed to reduce stigma and improve early intervention outcomes for low-income and minority communities. Developed and operated by Partnership to End Addiction with a $300,000 three-year grant from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation.

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Partnership to End AddictioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 April 2026Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation provided a $300,000 three-year grant to Partnership to End Addiction to develop and launch the BabySTEPs digital helpline. The program offers confidential text-based support via 55753 (English: 'BABY'; Spanish: 'BEBE') for pregnant and postpartum individuals facing substance use challenges, with plans to eventually expand nationwide.
• Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 April 2026Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation invested $100,000 in VFCCE to expand efforts combating food and basic needs insecurity among students at Virginia's 23 community colleges. The funding allocates 60% toward direct student food support and incentives for connecting with Single Stop advisors, with the remainder supporting statewide outreach and PantrySoft operations. The partnership builds on a relationship established in 2018.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• UnitedHealth Foundation: Corporate foundation of UnitedHealth Group focused on health equity and community health grants; directly comparable as another large payer-affiliated foundation with similar maternal and behavioral health priorities.
• Humana Foundation: Philanthropic arm of Humana focused on senior health, food security, and community health; comparable as a payer-affiliated foundation addressing similar social determinants of health.
• Cigna Foundation: Corporate giving arm of Cigna Group targeting health equity, mental health, and social determinants; closely analogous in structure, scale, and mission to Anthem Foundation.
• Blue Shield of California Foundation: Independent Blue-affiliated foundation funding domestic violence, health equity, and community health programs; comparable as a Blue-branded foundation with health-equity focus.
• CVS Health Foundation: Corporate foundation of CVS Health supporting health, education, and community initiatives; directly comparable as another healthcare conglomerate foundation with broad grantmaking scope.
• Kaiser Permanente Community Health: Kaiser Permanente's community health grantmaking and program arm; analogous in deploying payer resources into community-level maternal, behavioral, and food security initiatives.

Others

• Partnership to End Addiction: Recipient grantee of Anthem Foundation's BabySTEPs helpline; thematically related as a national nonprofit addressing substance use, including pregnancy and postpartum populations.
• Single Stop: Provider of benefits screening and wraparound support to community college students, named as the integration partner in Anthem Foundation's VFCCE grant; relevant as an ecosystem collaborator.

Broad incumbents

• California Health Care Foundation: Independent foundation funding health equity, behavioral health, and maternal health programs; comparable mission overlap though operates without a corporate parent's commercial alignment.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Largest US philanthropy focused solely on health; comparable as a major health grantmaker, though operating at much larger scale and as an independent foundation rather than corporate arm.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AnthemFDN
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/anthem-foundation-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Anthem Foundation