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.
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.
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.
GIH Health Policy Update Newsletter
The Latest
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.
The Impact of Chronic Underfunding on America’s Public Health System
Trust for America’s Health has released its annual report examining federal, state and local public health funding trends and recommending investments and policy actions to build a stronger public health system, prioritize prevention, and address the ways in which social and economic inequities create barriers to good health.
Why Redistricting Matters
Vitalyst Health Foundation has released a policy brief which describes the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) and discusses which eight of Arizona’s 19 charter cities conduct their own local process. The brief also explores the multiple ways people can engage to provide input so that community well-being can get the representation and resources it deserves.
How Philanthropy Can Help Communities Benefit from the American Rescue Plan Act
The American Rescue Plan Act provides $1.9 trillion in programs and tax policies across nearly all sectors of government to provide relief to individuals, families, communities, and states. There are several ways in which philanthropy can help to minimize the risk that we squander this opportunity to strengthen our communities.
Tracking Health Policy Trends in Texas
The Episcopal Health Foundation recently released the latest Texas Health Policy Poll Report, a statewide public opinion survey that gathers Texans’ opinions on a variety of important state health policy issues. Our objective is to use the poll findings to inform the discussion on state health policy priorities.
Making Data Accessible for Small Communities
Just as health disparities disadvantage people of color and those of less financial means or educational attainment, so does data inaccessibility. Launched in 2018, the City Health Dashboard addresses the problem of data inaccessibility for cities and communities.
From Hate to Health
It is undeniable that violence, threats of violence, and discrimination contribute to toxic stress and social isolation on a community level—and these factors are connected to negative health outcomes.