Reimagining Health Philanthropy, Together
During Day 2 of the 2025 Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy, attendees across sectors worked together to identify the intersections of their work and co-created solutions for healthier, thriving communities. Sessions spanned a wide range of topics, from exploring business’ role in health equity to strategies for supporting staff in uncertain times.
Remarks on Defending Philanthropy’s Freedom to Give
President and CEO of Grantmakers In Health (GIH), Cara V. James, delivered opening remarks at the 2025 GIH Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy in New Orleans.
Building a Collaborative Vision of the Future
Today, over 840 funders and thought leaders, representing 440 organizations, gathered in New Orleans for the largest Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy ever. Conference attendees started the day with site visits around the Crescent City and newcomer and networking lunches, rooting the week ahead in connections with the New Orleans community and each other.
GIH’s History
For 40 years, Grantmakers In Health has been a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to helping trustees and staff at foundations and corporate giving programs improve the health of all people.
40 Years and Future-Focused: Announcing GIH’s New Strategic Plan
As we approach our 40th year of supporting philanthropy—we at GIH have been reflecting on how the field is evolving, what is needed to achieve better health, and what our role in this work can be. We’ve asked for guidance on what we do well and where we can improve. And we’ve reflected on your feedback, reaffirmed our mission and values, and identified intended outcomes. The result is our new five-year strategic plan.
Sustaining Changes in Foundation Practices
A new report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy explores how foundation practices have shifted in the last 18 months and whether those changes will be sustained in the future. Foundations Respond to Crisis: Lasting Change? documents shifts in how foundations identify applicants, reductions in administrative burdens for grantees, increases in unrestricted funding, and new efforts to advance racial equity.
Freedom to Thrive: How Health Funders Can Support Transgender Communities
Despite well-documented disparities in health and well-being, according to Funders for LGBTQ Issues, for every $100 awarded by U.S. foundations in 2018, only 4 cents directly supported transgender communities. GIH Program Director Ann Rodgers sat down with Kris Hayashi and Alexander Lee to learn more about how health funders can support transgender communities.
The Time is Now: A Call for Philanthropic Engagement in the Implementation of the New 988 Mental Health Crisis Hotline
The Sozosei Foundation believes that 988 provides a once in a lifetime philanthropic opportunity to create the mental health and crisis response services that, frankly, have never been properly resourced. We believe that this will help to decriminalize mental illness and significantly move the needle on our overarching goal of eliminating the use of jails and prisons for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.
Moving the Needle on Black Birth Equity – A Call to Action
Philanthropy has an urgent responsibility and opportunity to address the structural factors leading to birth inequities. Healthier pregnancies, labors, and postpartum recoveries not only benefit birthing individuals, but also result in healthier children and families. Focusing attention on those who need it most could have positive implications for entire communities harmed by systemic racism for future generations. There is much work to do, but not enough philanthropic organizations are supporting these issues to tackle them at scale. We need all hands-on deck to truly move the needle. We five funders— from different states and coming to this issue from different angles—are reaching out to our fellow funders with a call to action to join us to in this work.