# Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in Center City, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation - **Headquarters:** Center City, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Center City, Minnesota, United States - **Founded:** 1949 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** www.hazeldenbettyford.org - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/hazelden-foundation ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Founded in 1949 as a rural treatment farm, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation merged in 2014 with the Betty Ford Center and now anchors the nonprofit addiction-care sector from its Center City, Minnesota headquarters. Susan Ford Bales serves on the board of trustees, maintaining the family connection to former First Lady Betty Ford's advocacy. The foundation operates 17 inpatient and outpatient sites from Rancho Mirage to New York. The foundation manages an estimated $177M endowment (Altss estimate) with a multi-asset strategy that spans buyouts, growth equity, and special situations, though specific fund commitments and direct holdings are not publicly itemized. Its operational footprint drives revenue through commercial treatment campuses in six states — including the flagship Betty Ford Center, Hazelden Betty Ford St. Paul, and centers in Chicago, New York, Naples, and Newberg. Confirmed institutional partnerships include Emory Healthcare through the Addiction Alliance of Georgia and a digital health tie-up with the startup Ginger for virtual treatment delivery. The board draws on government and recovery circles: North Dakota First Lady Kathryn Burgum serves alongside Susan Ford Bales. In September 2022, the foundation collaborated with Sigma Chi Fraternity to launch the Wayfinder behavioral health portal, extending its reach into university-age populations. The organization holds active memberships in the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers and the Minnesota Association of Resources for Recovery and Chemical Health, signaling deep integration with sector policy and advocacy networks. The foundation's structural differentiator is its hybrid identity — simultaneously the largest U.S. nonprofit addiction-treatment provider by facility count and an endowment investor that allocates to external fund managers via buyout and growth strategies. This dual posture means the endowment can draw on proprietary diligence from operating commercial treatment centers in Rancho Mirage, St. Paul, and New York, giving its investment team a real-time lens on behavioral-health demand that a purely financial endowment would lack. ## Sectors - Healthcare Services ## Offices - Rancho Mirage, CA, United States - St. Paul, MN, United States - Chicago, IL, United States - New York, NY, United States - Naples, FL, United States - Newberg, OR, United States ## People - Susan Ford Bales — Member of the Board of Trustees ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation? The foundation has not publicly disclosed its investment committee or chief investment officer. Governance flows through a board of trustees that includes Susan Ford Bales and North Dakota First Lady Kathryn Burgum, both recovery advocates. The board ultimately oversees the endowment's allocation to external managers across buyouts, growth equity, and special situations, per Altss research. Day-to-day investment staff names are not a matter of public record. ### How is Hazelden Betty Ford structured — is it purely an endowment or does it operate businesses? It is both a significant operator and an endowment investor. The foundation runs 17 commercial inpatient and outpatient treatment campuses in six states, generating clinical revenue, while simultaneously managing an estimated $177M endowment (Altss estimate). This hybrid structure distinguishes it from grants-only foundations and gives the investment team direct operational exposure to the behavioral-health economy. ### Does Hazelden Betty Ford participate in direct healthcare deals or only fund commitments? The foundation's stated strategy includes buyouts, growth equity, and special situations, but the specific mix of direct investments versus fund commitments is not publicly itemized. No individual portfolio company names from the endowment portfolio have been disclosed. Its known partnerships — such as the Addiction Alliance of Georgia with Emory Healthcare or the digital-health collaboration with Ginger — stem from the operating side rather than the endowment. ### What is the foundation's relationship with the Ford family today? Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former President Gerald Ford and former First Lady Betty Ford, serves on the board of trustees, maintaining the family's active governance role decades after Betty Ford founded the eponymous California treatment center. The 2014 merger between Hazelden and the Betty Ford Center unified the two nonprofits under a single board. No other Ford family members are disclosed as trustees in the Altss research record. ### How geographically concentrated are Hazelden Betty Ford's treatment assets? The foundation's 17 sites cluster in six states: Minnesota (Center City and St. Paul are dual anchors), California, Illinois, New York, Florida, and Oregon. This is a deliberate national footprint, not a regional concentration — the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage and the Manhattan outpatient clinic extend the brand to both coasts. Real assets in these locations form a significant portion of the operating balance sheet, per the Altss research record. ## Related profiles - [Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association](https://altss.com/profile/chartered-accountants-benevolent-association) - [Moravian University](https://altss.com/profile/moravian-university) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/hazelden-betty-ford-foundation Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology