The abundant acts of volunteerism and giving, both at the corporate level and among our colleagues, establish HCA Healthcare as an admirable example of charitable endeavors. This generosity not only aids hundreds of nonprofit organizations coast-to-coast, but it also benefits the colleagues who give their time and their own savings.

“I’ve been here now over 20 years, and from day one, something that has been stressed is that taking care of the communities where we live and work is so important,” says Deana Campbell, director of Development and Colleague Community Engagement.

“When you look back at the culture of HCA Healthcare, when you look back at what was built from the very beginning with Dr. Frist, Sr., it was always about more than just hospitals. It was about taking care of each other, but also taking care of those communities where we are really embedded.”

This commitment adds value to employees’ careers, and it adds value to their communities — “where we raise our families, where we grow,” she says. “Really, it is part of the DNA at HCA Healthcare. It’s more than just a job. It’s taking care of one another as a family and taking care of our communities.”

HCA Healthcare’s tradition of giving was first cultivated by founder Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr., and continued under his son, Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr., and CEO Sam Hazen.

“HCA Healthcare, from its earliest days, has fostered a culture of being a good corporate citizen,” says Dr. Frist, Jr. “We have always encouraged our colleagues to be generous with their time and resources for philanthropic purposes.”

By engaging in those philanthropic endeavors, everyone — our communities, our colleagues and HCA Healthcare — wins, says Dana Patel, director of the HCA Healthcare Foundation.

The stated mission of the Foundation is to make a positive impact in the locations served by the enterprise. In its early days, the Foundation was centered on health and well-being, the arts, and youth. It also addressed basic needs, like providing access to nutritious food and helping those without access to housing.

“HCA Healthcare really is a culture of serving our community,” says Patel. “It is something we are all proud of, and it’s really beautiful to see what happens when big teams just get out and take care of nonprofit needs.”

With more than 300,000 employees, more than 200 hospitals and 2,000 points of care, HCA Healthcare impacts communities across the country. Moreover, the enterprise has almost 1,000 colleagues serving on 940 nonprofit boards of directors.

“Because of that, we have colleagues who are passionate about different causes and nonprofits in their specific communities, and we give them resources to go out and volunteer,” Patel says. “We do donation matching for gifts to any 501(c)(3) nonprofit across the country.”

A defining characteristic of HCA Healthcare’s charitable efforts is that the power of giving is placed in the hands of our colleagues. Instead of the enterprise dictating which nonprofits to support, colleagues are trusted, and encouraged, to connect with the local organizations they know best.

“We found that when it really makes an impact to the community, and to the individual colleague, it’s something they care about,” says Patel.

By the end of 2024, colleagues had given $11.6 million to roughly 4,700 organizations, with HCA Healthcare donating almost $7 million more in matching funds. The organization offers a matching gift of up to $1,000 annually to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund, as well as charities of choice for every eligible colleague who makes a financial donation.

Also in 2024, more than 17,000 colleagues volunteered almost 240,000 hours to over 5,200 organizations, resulting in more than $2.2 million in volunteer grants given by the enterprise to nonprofits of their choice.

“We encourage people to volunteer and log their hours at any 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which is essentially any nonprofit in the U.S.,” says Campbell. Once employees log 10 hours of volunteer time, they receive a $200 gift card to pass along to a nonprofit of their choice.

This past April, during Community Days: A Month of Service at HCA Healthcare’s corporate offices in Nashville, Tennessee, a total of 2,550 colleagues provided 13,035 volunteer hours. Nationwide, HCA Healthcare’s We Show Up campaign, held concurrently with Community Days, featured 14 of the enterprise’s 15 divisions.

“We had 645 projects for nonprofits,” says Campbell, referring to organizationwide numbers. “We had 7,419 colleagues volunteer as part of that, and nearly 23,000 hours logged. The We Show Up campaigns represented projects that were curated by our community engagement folks.”

While volunteering and giving help to build stronger ties between colleagues and their communities, Patel says those efforts actually reinforce the bonds shared by the colleagues themselves.

“It’s very personal,” she says. “When you get out and volunteer with your team, all of a sudden you’re laughing or you’re joking and you’re doing something with purpose for somebody else. It creates great relationships. We see it as team-building opportunities.”

According to Campbell, a study conducted with UnitedHealth Group, Doing Good Is Good for You, indicated that volunteering and giving pay dividends for each participating individual. “Adults who volunteer feel 75% physically healthier. It improves your mood. It reduces your stress by 79%. It increases self-esteem.”

Another unexpected but welcomed benefit is job satisfaction. “Our HR team pulled a report, and we’re able to see that colleague retention is significantly impacted when they log volunteer time,” says Patel. “So when they’re actively out in their community, they stay longer at HCA. It’s really an amazing by-product.”

In 2024, HCA Healthcare turnover was 28%. “But for those who logged volunteer time, it went from 28% to 9%,” says Patel. “Similarly, for those who took advantage of our gift matching, or donations to nonprofits, it dropped from 28% to 12%.”Given current trends, the future is bright for HCA Healthcare’s culture of giving.

“When we look at our colleagues that are engaging in donating and volunteering, volunteering is absolutely going up,” says Campbell, adding that HCA Healthcare’s charitable efforts have steadily increased since the pandemic.

“We have such humble servant leaders here, to the community and their families,” she says. “Anytime we can stress the benefit to the agencies when people do go in and log their service, that this really is to help our communities, that is always great.”