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.

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky Report: May 2017

Kentuckians who are familiar with needle exchange programs are more likely to favor them, according to the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP), an annual poll of Kentucky adults about health issues, funded jointly by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Interact for Health.

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New York State Health Foundation RFP: April 2017

The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) announced an upcoming Request for Proposals (RFP) to support hospitals in New York State in adopting OpenNotes.

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The Benefits of External Eyes

How is our work going, really? Can staff answer that question with a sufficient degree of critical appraisal? Can we rely on the complete honesty of funded partners, who are thrilled that we have recognized their causes as ours, to gain a sense of our impact? Is our board prepared, engaged and yet distant enough to provide a wise response to this fundamental question of success?

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Philanthropic Moral Courage: A Compass for Leading Boldly

Moral courage and risk-taking were hot topics of conversation during our experience as fellows of the 2016 Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders.

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No More Half Measures: The Case for Bigger, Bolder Advocacy Support

It is increasingly clear that advocacy and policy change is deeply entrenched in and dependent on political institutions and the political process. This is the perfect time for foundations to furnish themselves with a broad range of tools, helping to ensure that the fights we have always had will not be the fights we always have.

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Awarding Excellence in Advocacy and Philanthropy

On March 14, GIH announced that Chet Hewitt, President and CEO of the Sierra Health Foundation, is the 2017 recipient of the Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy, and that Ron Pollack, the Founding Executive Director of Families USA, is the 2017 recipient of the Andy Hyman Award for Advocacy.

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