The United Hospital Fund was founded by hospital trustees and other concerned New Yorkers in 1879 as an innovative approach to organizing charitable support for voluntary, nonprofit hospitals in New York City and to help solve shared problems. Known for more than a century as the nation’s oldest federated charity, the Fund has played a central role in addressing critical health care issues facing New York, and in the founding of many of the organizations and institutions that today help define the city’s health care landscape, including the Greater New York Hospital Association, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, United Way of New York City, and the New York Blood Center. More recently, the Fund has supported the creation of the Primary Care Development Corporation, New York City AIDS Fund, New York Society for Health Planning, and New York Cares.