Healthier Information Ecosystems: Strategies for Health Philanthropy

Our information environment is transforming—including the places and people who help us make decisions about our health. Those health information ecosystems are fragmented; filled with information from a wide range of expertise and sources; and platform algorithms exert tremendous and unseen control over what messages are seen, shared, and amplified. These changes have many of our traditional health information sources racing to learn new skills to ensure they remain trusted and relevant.

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Beyond Innovation: How Philanthropy Can Strengthen Systems to Improve Rural Health Outcomes

Sometimes innovation in philanthropy is associated with breakthrough technologies or new medical discoveries. But some of the most impactful investments fund something less visible: the coordination of people, protocols, and institutions already in place so they work together seamlessly to save lives.

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A Philanthropic Tree of Life: Seeding Health Equity through Influence and Innovation

Philanthropy can function as a living ecosystem for change rooted in equity, nourished by trust, and bearing the fruits of community well-being. The Direct Relief Fund for Health Equity (DRFHE), launched with $50 million in initial investments, exemplifies a transformative philanthropic model supporting nearly 200 community-based organizations across the United States. Acknowledging DRFHE as a “Tree of Life” offers a framework grounded in community-led, trust-based, and unrestricted giving that challenges traditional philanthropic paradigms. Therefore, this article describes the fund’s origins, strategic priorities, and outcomes, and introduces the DRFHE Tree of Life framework as a replicable model for equity-driven philanthropy.

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GIH Health Policy Update Newsletter

An Exclusive Resource for Funding Partners

The Health Policy Update is a newsletter produced in collaboration with Leavitt Partners and Trust for America’s Health. Drawing on GIH’s policy priorities outlined in our policy agenda and our strategic objective of increasing our policy and advocacy presence, the Health Policy Update provides GIH Funding Partners with a range of federal health policy news.

community safety realized report cover

Public Health Pathways to Preventing Violence

The Community Safety Realized report, developed by the Big Cities Health Coalition and the Prevention Institute, describes how the science and practice of public health and the values of equity and justice can shape a community-driven, multisector approach to safety.

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Raising the Next Generation: A Survey of Parents and Caregivers

Raising the Next Generation: A Survey of Parents and Caregivers is a new, in-depth research study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that examines what it is like to raise children in America today. Interviews were conducted with an intentional focus on parents and caregivers of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, to learn about the aspirations they have for their children, the challenges they face, and the factors that help them thrive.

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Why We Cannot Return to Normal: A Prelude to GIH’s Annual Conference

If we are truly committed to a better world, life should not return to normal for any of us. It is against this backdrop that we will come together for GIH’s Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy from June 8-11.

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Investing in the Power of Young People: 20 Years of Philanthropic Support for Youth Organizing

Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing (FCYO) has released its 2020 Funder Scan which evaluates the critical role philanthropy has played in shoring up a youth organizing field poised to meet the multiple challenges of this moment. This report is part of FCYO’s 2020 National Youth Organizing Field Scan, a series of four reports that together offer an in-depth look into a field that has grown in significant ways over the last two decades.

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Views from the field by Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter

What Will Our Philanthropic Racial Equity Legacy Be?

I have worked in philanthropy for over a decade—and believe we are at a pivotal time in our field’s history when taking action for equity is our only option in our quest for a just future.

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Views from the field by Chiara Smith

The Illusion of Inclusive Workspaces and the Psychological Safety of BIPOC Colleagues

When thinking about equity and justice, funders should ask themselves if we are operating from an authentically inclusive space—or under the illusion of inclusion.

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