bi3 Fund

bi3 Fund

bi3 Fund formed in 2010 when Bethesda Inc., a Cincinnati-based nonprofit, sold its namesake hospital to TriHealth, a joint operating company co-sponsored with CommonSpirit Health. Jill Miller, President and CEO of both Bethesda Inc. and bi3, oversees the resulting grantmaking vehicle. The fund's corpus traces directly to that transaction, giving it an unusual foundation structure — a large, liquid endowment deployed entirely for regional health transformation rather than to support a single operating entity. The fund makes grants and program-related investments across three primary areas: maternal and infant health, mental well-being, and health equity. It deploys capital through direct grants to community-based organizations, collaborative funds with institutional co-investors such as the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and initiatives like the Black Empowerment Works and the Better Together Fund. Geographic focus remains tightly concentrated on Greater Cincinnati, with a secondary emphasis on scaling proven local models through partnerships with statewide organizations like Philanthropy Ohio. bi3's total grantmaking since inception exceeds a stated benchmark of over $60 million, channeled into more than 60 nonprofit partners. Jill Miller continues to lead the organization, which operates from Bethesda Inc.'s headquarters in Cincinnati's Eden Park neighborhood. In addition to its grantmaking, bi3 holds an interest in the Bethesda Inc. Master Trust, reflecting a dual posture of programmatic grantmaker and institutional asset owner. The fund maintains active memberships in Grantmakers in Health and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, signaling a commitment to evidence-based philanthropy. bi3's structural differentiator is its hybrid nature — it behaves like an endowed foundation but was capitalized through a hospital sale, not a family's wealth transfer. This origin means its entire mandate is public health in a single metro area, with no donor intent or family office governance to navigate. The result is a grantmaker with foundation-scale assets, a community-health mission, and a nonprofit parent that still holds real estate and other legacy assets distinct from the fund's deployed capital.