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.
Philanthropy, Stewarding a Just America
In a time of intensive action to dismantle policies and practices that protect the well-being of all Americans, where chaos is the principal strategy to overthrow the will of and care for the American people, philanthropy must remain rooted in what is legally and morally right.
How Pew Is Learning to Improve Health Policy
Antibiotics revolutionized medical treatment and are a cornerstone of modern health care. However, the global rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is making infections costlier and deadlier. After a 2008 report commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts highlighted these concerns, the organization invested in multiple projects to set limits on the use of antibiotics and to spur the development of new drugs.
The Value of Convening Grantees to Navigate Uncertainty Together
In moments of chaos, it’s natural for nonprofits to feel uncertain—unsure of what’s next and how to move forward. But uncertainty can also be a powerful catalyst for connection and action. During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Healthy Food Community of Practice doubled down on its efforts to bring nonprofits together and helped them build lasting relationships, collaborate in new ways, and innovate around shared challenges.
Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals to Advance a Bold Racial Equity Agenda at a Critical Moment
“What started out as a natural disaster became a man-made disaster.” This is how President Obama described Hurricane Katrina, referring to both the disparate and devastating impacts on New Orleans’ Black community, and the historical and structural inequity that created the conditions for devastation.
Grantmakers In Health Announces 2025 Award Winners
Grantmakers In Health is pleased to announce Elizabeth Ripley of the Mat-Su Health Foundation in Alaska, as the 2025 recipient of the Terrance Keenan Leadership Award, and Jane Perkins of the National Health Law Program in Washington, DC, as the 2025 recipient of the Andy Hyman Award for Advocacy.
Elizabeth Ripley of the Mat-Su Health Foundation to Be Honored with the 2025 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award
Elizabeth Ripley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mat-Su Health Foundation in Alaska, will receive Grantmakers In Health’s 2025 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award.