To serve as a catalyst for improving the health of Kansans.

To direct resources toward helping people and communities achieve and maintain optimal health by improving access to health care and information, eliminating barriers, emphasizing prevention and promoting healthy environments that enable and support personal responsibility for health.

The Sunflower Foundation: Health Care for Kansans, based in Topeka, Kansas, was created in August 2000 as part of a $75 million settlement between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, the state attorney general and state insurance commissioner. The agreement creating the foundation resolved lawsuits between the parties concerning Blue Cross' charitable assets from company operations from 1941 to 1969.

The settlement charged the new Sunflower Foundation with serving the health needs of Kansans with an emphasis on programs that: 1) served the poor, uninsured, underinsured; 2) promote preventive health care; and 3) support activities aimed at reducing the number of Kansans who use and are addicted to tobacco products.

In its first six years of operation, the Sunflower Foundation provided more than 500 grants worth more than $20 million - all directed to benefit the health of Kansans. A statewide organization, the foundation serves Kansas' vast, diverse geographic and demographic population.

The Board of Trustees for the Sunflower Foundation operates with nine members, with eight appointed by the Kansas attorney general and one appointed by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. The foundation's first Board of Trustees was appointed in 2000. The organization's first president and chief executive officer was selected in 2001. The foundation's first grants were awarded in 2002.

The Sunflower Foundation is a tax-exempt organization, defined as a public charity, under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code. The foundation operates as a Type 1 Supporting Organization under Section 509 (a) (3) of the IRS Code.

The Sunflower Foundation abides by the guidelines set in the Kansas Open Meetings Act and the Kansas Open Records Act. For information requests, please contact Billie G. Hall, president and CEO.