Humana Foundation Advances Equity Through Community-Engaged Research Practices

Grantmakers In Health’s Maya Schane spoke with Heather Hyden and Soojin Conover of the Humana Foundation about the Foundation’s recently published report, Strengthening Science and Community Impact Through Equitable Research Practices. The report examines innovative research methods adopted by the Foundation’s partners to promote health equity in public health research through community-engaged research practices.

Read More →

Collaborating for Impact: Providing Trust-Based Grantmaking and Technical Assistance to Support Local Resilience to Extreme Weather Events

In the last few years, there has been an increased number of extreme weather events, including wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and heatwaves in the United States. In 2023, the United States experienced 28 disasters that cost at least $1 billion, the largest number of billion-dollar disasters in a single year on record (Smith 2024). While some areas of the country are more susceptible to these threats, there are no regions immune to disasters. According to a recent Gallup poll, 37 percent of adults in the United States report they have been personally impacted by at least one extreme weather event in the last two years, which is higher than the 2022/2023 survey result at 33 percent.

Read More →

Working Through Challenges to Sharing Power With Community: Highlights from a session at Grantmakers in Health’s Annual Conference

The people closest to the issue best know the solutions. For health funders, sharing power with community could mean giving residents a voice in shaping your grantmaking priorities or where grant dollars are spent. Many funders understand that solutions are more likely to be successful when the people who are most affected have a voice in shaping them. But when it comes to including that voice, the work often stalls before it starts.

Read More →

Doing a Lot with a Little: The Gulf Coast Fund

“Doing a Lot with a Little” is an occasional series of the GIH Bulletin showcasing small foundations that have creatively leveraged resources to achieve meaningful change.

Read More →

Making Money in the Nonprofit Sector: Social Enterprises to Support Missions

During the economic downturn, America’s social sector organizations are rising to the challenge. One way in which organizations are investing in a more sustainable future is through social enterprise. The Social Enterprise Alliance (2009) defines a social enterprise as “an organization or venture that achieves its primary social or environmental mission using business methods.”

Read More →

Initiatives in Education, Economic Development Present Challenges, Yield Big Rewards

The Rapides Foundation is a health care legacy dating back to 1994. The foundation’s grantmaking focus has always addressed traditional health care and health promotion priorities. We have funded medical training and programs that help people get access to medication and launched programs that helped communities fund walking trails and playgrounds.

Read More →

Expanding the Circle of Allies

Many of us have been investigating and working to reduce health disparities for decades. And we have seen the trend lines like writing on the wall. An equation of the health decisions we each make, plus the environment in which we make them, has added up to a nation where we are not nearly as healthy as we could be.

Read More →

Collaboration Among Local Public Health Departments Preparing for Accreditation

The Kansas Health Foundation believes that all residents of Kansas deserve equal levels of public health protection and access to services regardless of where they live in the state. In partnership with the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments (KALHD), the foundation has worked to explore how regional collaboration among local health departments might strengthen these departments and support their efforts to become accredited.

Read More →

A National Foundation Undertakes a Regional Strategy in the South

The Health Reform Program of the Public Welfare Foundation supports advocacy so that the voices of the people served by the health care system can be informed and effective. Poverty, health disparities, and underfunded advocacy capacity describe the South.

Read More →