Care Foundation, a supporting organization to the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation, was established through the sale of Northwest Health System in 1998. Since Northwest Health System was a nonprofit organization, federal law required that the net proceeds of the transaction be either donated to charity or held exclusively for the benefit of charity. Care Foundation's Board of Directors chose the second option and aligned itself with the Community Foundation in order to serve the broadest needs of this area.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' AHEC Northwest