The Summa sale created Trailhead. It plans $10 million in first-year health grants

The foundation created from the sale of Summa Health finally knows how much money it will be seeded with: $330 million.

The figure makes Trailhead Community Health Foundation of Greater Akron among the largest grantmaking organizations in Summit County and one of the bigger healthcare-focused foundations in the country. Tracy Carter, the president and CEO of the foundation, said that, across the five-county area it serves, Trailhead expects to allot $10 million in grants in its first year.

The initial, $10 million commitment will go toward helping people live healthier lives, Carter said. That figure could change in future years as funds are invested and donors continue to give to Trailhead to increase its capacity.

“Our charge is to protect and grow that endowment in perpetuity,” Carter said. “We’re going to steward and grow that gift over time.”

A 2025 report from Grantmakers In Health regarding healthcare conversion foundations, the name for foundations that were created out of healthcare companies, showed that Trailhead is in the top tier of similar organizations. Of the 300 others the organization has tracked in the country, only 14 percent have more than $250 million in assets. 

There are 19 other healthcare conversion foundations in Ohio, the report said — the fifth most in the country. Only one, in Cincinnati, has a larger endowment.

Public foundations don’t have a requirement regarding how much they must give each year, said Kate Treanor, a senior program director and strategic adviser with Grantmakers In Health. But most usually give around 5 percent, which is the requirement for private foundations — a figure that’s usually determined over a rolling period depending on market returns.

With new foundations, Treanor said, “usually it takes them a little while to start making grants.” 

Carter said about 10 percent of the $330 million total — some of which came from the Summa Foundation and not directly from the hospital’s sale to HATCo — is restricted. The foundation is in the process of talking to donors who restricted their funds about what they want to do with their money.

Trailhead becomes one of largest foundations in Summit County

Given Trailhead’s financial resources, the foundation is “going to be able to do some really catalytic work,” said Christine Mayer, president of the GAR Foundation. Mayer spoke before the figures were finalized, but said from following the news of the Summa sale that she hoped Trailhead would be making grants “somewhere hopefully north of $10 million, $15 million.”

Regardless of the final number, she said, the community will benefit greatly.

“For sure, any time you inject additional capital in the millions, you’re going to have additional impact,” she said. “I think they’re very likely to be the largest funder in the City of Akron right out of the gate.”

The GAR Foundation has a $215 million endowment and distributes between $7 million and $7.5 million annually, Mayer said. 

The Akron Community Foundation has $406 million in assets and distributed $18.5 million in grants in its last fiscal year, which ended in March, said Tracy Burt, its vice president and chief operating officer. Of those, $5.7 million were competitive grants, awarded through a merit-based process.

Other foundations that are active locally include the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, which Mayer said is about the same size as GAR, and the Knight Foundation, which is headquartered in Miami and gives in Akron.

Trailhead enumerates grantmaking priorities

Trailhead will host five informational sessions about its grantmaking plans in January, one each in Summit, Stark, Wayne, Medina and Portage counties. Its giving will focus on four investment areas tied to the social drivers of health, with one grant cycle each year focused on each of the priority areas. 

In order of the grantmaking schedule, those priority areas are:

• Prevention, public health and population health improvement
• Health access and services coordination
• Healthcare workforce and medical research and innovation
• Healthy neighborhoods, healthier region opportunities

The first request for applications will be released Feb. 26, with decisions expected June 30. Other applications will be available in May, August and November 2027 for grant announcements in September and December 2027 and March 2028.

Carter said she wants to see lives change as a result of Trailhead’s investments, and she’s particularly keen on investments that can amplify the foundation’s dollars. 

“We’re going to take our time,” she said. “We’re going to support those initiatives that government doesn’t invest in, to stand in the gap.”

The money is a once-in-a-generation gift to the community, said Marty Hauser, the Trailhead board chair. Hauser said while there’s never enough money, he hopes to leverage other foundations to do transformational work in the region. At first, he said, Trailhead was taking a conservative approach, but ultimately it would like to be giving in the 4 percent to 6 percent range.

“I feel good about what we’re trying to do,” he said. “We’re going to add and increase the amount we’re giving. We’re starting from ground zero. We’re about getting started.”

Hauser said Trailhead intends to be transparent and inclusive. He said he thought the foundation’s four investment areas represented a well-thought-out strategy that would allow the endowment to grow and help change health outcomes in the region.

“We are to be here in perpetuity, long after we’re gone,” he said. “I’m thinking it’s going to be pretty good.”

Trailhead grants will be at least $10,000

Trailhead has the ability to be nimble, Carter said, and in addition to the four priority areas, it plans to hold back some money for emergency needs or crisis situations. She said the smallest grants the foundation will make will be $10,000.

Mental, maternal and oral health are high-priority areas, based on community feedback across more than 200 conversations, Carter said. She said there’s little funding for prevention efforts, like wellness campaigns, and Trailhead could help step in.

She also said she sees Trailhead’s role as a convener, to help people navigate access to the social safety net and help organizations work more closely together.

One way that could manifest, she said, is in helping make it easier for people to schedule services and access healthcare. 

“Time is health,” Carter said. “We can do better. We have to do better.”

Improving the capacity of free clinics, which have been overwhelmed by government cuts, could be another way funding is directed. And increasing access to equipment or supplies could make a difference to healthcare providers.

Better green spaces, access to healthy food and affordable housing are among the other areas Carter said could fall under Trailhead’s purview.

“I’m really excited to have a plan,” she said. “We feel pretty good that we built something that’s doable.”

An enduring legacy from Summa

Outside of Trailhead, leaders are eagerly awaiting the first grants and the impact they’ll have on the community. Akron Community Foundation President and CEO John Garofalo said in a statement that he was excited to work collaboratively to address the community’s “most pressing needs.”

Mayer, with GAR, said she thinks Carter and her team will be “thoughtful and strategic.”

“They’re going to be deep investors,” Mayer said. “We’re stoked.”

Having a health-focused foundation is a “huge benefit to our community,” Mayer said.

One way residents might benefit is by having another entity that can step in to help fill the gaps from planned federal cuts to Medicaid. That’s one of the ways Greta Johnson, the assistant chief of staff for Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro, hopes Trailhead can contribute to the community.

“I think they’ve got their eye on the ball, and I’m glad to know that,” Johnson said. “They have a plan, but they’re quick to say they’re willing to adjust if need be.”

Carter said Trailhead will pace itself by spreading out its giving throughout a full year. When all is said and done, she said, the goal is to improve health and wellness outcomes in the region.

She’ll do that by making bold investments, she said, but also by considering need.

After all, that combination was the genesis of the hospital that eventually became Summa, and led to Trailhead’s creation.

In 1883, Boniface DeRoo left the bulk of his estate to the city of Akron for the creation of the hospital. His will, which Trailhead workers recently found in a FedEx envelope as they were moving out of Summa, said funds were to be used “for a city hospital, wherein invalids and infirm persons, without distinction of race, nationality, color or sex, may be provided for without charge or compensation in case of inability to pay for the same.”

By the time litigation over the will was finished, DeRoo’s gift was $10,200. Others added donations to create a $100,000 endowment (about $3.7 million today) that paid the hospital’s operating expenses.

More than a century later, Carter sees echoes of DeRoo’s efforts in Trailhead’s vision to help residents thrive. 

“We’re ensuring his legacy,” Carter said.