A leader in health policy analysis and health journalism, the Kaiser Family Foundation is dedicated to filling the need for trusted information on national health issues.
Kaiser is a non-profit organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. Unlike grant-making foundations, Kaiser develops and runs its own policy analysis, journalism and communications programs, sometimes in partnership with major news organizations.
We serve as a non-partisan source of facts, analysis and journalism for policymakers, the media, the health policy community and the public. Our product is information, always provided free of charge — from the most sophisticated policy research, to basic facts and numbers, to in depth health policy news coverage provided by our news service, KHN, to information young people can use to improve their health or the general public can use to understand the health reform law.
The modern day KFF was established in the early 1990s with its current mission and operating style.
It is not associated with Kaiser Permanente.
More About The Foundation History & Mission Our Programs
President’s Message
This essay discusses the choices we have made about our mission and operating style. It is a revised version of an essay published in the journal Health Affairs in 1998. Of course, I believe deeply in what we are doing at Kaiser, but I offer this and update it every few years for interested readers with the caveat that our choices are not necessarily the right ones for others. Each foundation and non-profit organization has a different set of opportunities by virtue of its history and donor intent, its size, geographic location, the character of its board and staff leadership, and other factors. I have always believed that our society is best served by having foundations that do different things. Organizations also evolve and change (and should). We began as a private foundation, quickly switched to a private operating foundation, and now we are a public charity, a change which signals no shift in mission or operations but gives us a status which more accurately reflects how we operate today.
Follow Dr. Altman on Twitter: @DrewAltman
Also read about Kaiser’s strategy on its work about the Affordable Care Act.
Our Legacy
Kaiser Family Members Panel on Henry J. Kaiser and How the Foundation Reflects His Credo, “Find a Need and Fill It”
See MoreSF
Headquarters
185 Berry Street | Suite 2000 | San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: (650) 854 9400 | Fax: (650) 854 4800
DC
Washington Office & Barbara Jordan Conference Center
1330 G Street, NW | Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 347 5270 | Fax: (202) 347 5274
(One block west of Metro Center | Directions)
