Our Story

“The most important and beautiful gift one human being can give to another is, in some way, to make life a little better to live,” said philanthropist and journalist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924. 

Miss Ellen embodied this philosophy, donating millions to charitable causes during her lifetime. And perhaps nowhere is her commitment to improving the lives of others more apparent than in her founding of Scripps Memorial Hospital and Scripps Metabolic Clinic in La Jolla 100 years ago. 

The changes since have been monumental. What began as one hospital and clinic in La Jolla has grown into a prominent San Diego health care system that’s consistently ranked among the best health care providers in the nation. At Scripps, we treat more than 600,000 patients annually at its five acute-care hospital campuses, 30 outpatient centers and clinics and hundreds of affiliated physician offices. We are also one of the largest employers in San Diego, with 3,000 affiliated physicians and nearly 17,000 employees, and is recognized as one of the country’s best companies to work for.

When Mercy Hospital joined our organization in 1995, it was a perfect match not just in our shared mission, but also in our origins. Like Scripps, Mercy Hospital was founded in 1890 by another brilliant woman dedicated to helping others, Mother Mary Michael Cummings of the Sisters of Mercy.

Today, our donors help make progress possible. As a nonprofit health care system, we rely on donations to help fund growth of our hospitals and outpatient clinics, purchase state-of-the-art equipment to diagnose and treat diseases, advance discoveries through research, and support so many other vital programs and services.

There are many ways to support Scripps, discover all the ways by contacting Scripps Health Foundation.