Montage Health Foundation

Montage Health Foundation

Montage Health Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Montage Health, a nonprofit network of local organizations whose roots trace back more than 90 years to the founding of Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. The foundation's most significant recorded gift came from Roberta "Bertie" Bialek Elliott, who donated $105.8 million to create Ohana, a youth mental health campus in Ryan Ranch, Monterey. That donation established a physical and programmatic anchor for pediatric and adolescent behavioral health services that the health system had not previously offered at scale. Deployment focuses on three main channels: capital projects within the Montage Health ecosystem, scholarships for healthcare professionals who commit to practicing in Monterey County, and community health initiatives co-run with local partners including the Community Foundation for Monterey County and the Pebble Beach Company Foundation. The Ohana Center and its associated programs represent the capital-intensive centerpiece. The scholarship program addresses a documented physician shortage on the Monterey Peninsula by funding education for nurses, medical students, and allied health providers. The foundation also stewards endowed funds — such as the de Guigné gift — through grant administration partnerships, though the foundation does not disclose total assets under management or annual grantmaking volumes. The foundation operates under the governance of Montage Health, a system led by Steven Packer, MD, as president and CEO until his planned retirement in 2025, at which point Mike McDermott, MD, will assume the role. The broader Montage Health network includes Community Hospital — a facility ranked by Healthgrades among the top 10 percent of US hospitals for patient experience in May 2026 — as well as Montage Medical Group, MoGo Urgent Care, Aspire Health Medicare Advantage plan, Montage Wellness Center fitness facilities, and Montage Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. The foundation maintains office space at 40 Ryan Court in Monterey. Leadership participates in the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners for planned-giving strategy. May 2026: Montage Health Foundation joined with the Monterey Peninsula Foundation and the Community Foundation for Monterey County in providing support for local fire victims. A structural differentiator is the foundation's tight integration with an operating health system that directly employs its beneficiaries. It does not function as a distant grantmaker evaluating external nonprofits. Instead, it funds facilities, salaries, and scholarships inside an ecosystem where Montage Health is simultaneously the foundation's parent, its sole beneficiary, and the employer of the professionals it trains. This closed-loop model means every philanthropic dollar funds assets that the parent health system owns, operates, and staffs — making donor impact visible inside its own clinics, hospital wards, and the Ohana campus rather than distributed across third-party organizations.