Earlier this fall, GIH made an initial appeal to current Funding Partners for their help building an Effective Philanthropy Fund. The fund will be an enduring investment in the work that retiring GIH President, Faith Mitchell, has championed for several years.
Many are familiar with the programming that GIH offers to build the human capital of foundation staff, senior management, and governing boards and to ensure organizational excellence in policies and practices. The fund will expand on those past efforts and has several goals:
- Goal 1: Sustain the Terrance Keenan Institute for Health Philanthropy over the next several years. Since 2010, this biennial program has nurtured talented practitioners who have shown the potential to be among the next generation of leaders in the field of health philanthropy. To date, 85 individuals have participated, and the next institute is scheduled for the fall of 2020.
- Goal 2: Expand programming for trustees. For the past several years, we have hosted trustee-focused sessions at our annual conference to foster peer-to-peer sharing on high priority topics. We intend to make trustee workshops a fixture at future annual conferences and to develop other programming tailored to trustees’ interests.
- Goal 3: Offer a diverse mix of annual conference activities focused on foundation operations and governance. Many are familiar with our popular Art & Science of Grantmaking program. GIH plans to continue offering an operations or governance workshop each year, plus additional conference sessions that support and convene staff at different levels within organizations.
- Goal 4: Increase access to our programming. For those who cannot attend the annual conference, GIH plans to turn the most successful conference discussions into short publications. And we want to bring the show on the road! Several GIH Funding Partners have mentioned an interest in a workshop closer to home. With funding, we can replicate successful workshops for regional audiences.
GIH is encouraged by the response so far. We have received several contributions to the fund, with $359,000 awarded to date and an additional $30,000 in verbal commitments. The campaign will remain open through the first half of 2020, and work will get underway in January.
Special thanks to the George Family Foundation, the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, the Maine Health Access Foundation, The Metta Fund, the Montana Healthcare Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Sierra Health Foundation, and the Salem Health and Wellness Foundation for their support of the fund.
Click here to learn more about GIH’s work in Governance and Operations and keep track of work supported by the fund.