Since its inception four (4) years ago, and with an initial fund of over one million (1,000,000.00) pesos, the Foundation set up its organizational structure by hiring full-time staff to manage its day-to-day operations. Key experts were appointed as its Technical Working Group to institutionalize its policies, guidelines, and procedures. The Foundation began providing services to its target beneficiaries with the selfless support of their volunteers. Programs and activities were executed and sustained through major sponsorships from corporations, private organizations, and individuals, along with collaborative engagements with medical societies and national and local government units.

The primary beneficiaries of the Foundation in its early stages were the charity patients of the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, who, due to the complexity of their conditions, could hardly cope with the cost of their treatment. Medical missions in depressed communities were also conducted in partnership with local governments and a pool of volunteer physicians and allied groups.

As it evolved, the Board of Trustees and its key volunteers recognized the need for the Foundation to provide services beyond charity assistance for patient management and outreach services. Medical services with competitive, state-of-the-art facilities needed to be made available to low-income patients. Health provider skills and technical expertise needed to be enhanced to cope with catastrophes, and numerous other innovations needed attention to uplift public health services, particularly among the underprivileged sectors of our society. These realities inspired the Board of Trustees to revisit and evaluate their thrusts and directions. The rebranding of its mission from a charity to a social development platform was contemplated, leading to the amendment of the name from Charity Foundation to Social Development Foundation.

The primary intent of the Chinese General Hospital-Social Development Foundation, Inc. (formerly Chinese General Hospital Charity Foundation Inc.) is to extend greater access to charity medical and surgical services among low-income patients and communities. It upholds organized and sound initiatives whereby health providers exercise their professional skills to render quality, holistic care in the interest of patients.