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.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation RFP: March 2017
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) Foundation announced its Healthy Communities 2017 funding opportunity: Health Equity in Action.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation Report: March 2017
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, through its Health Equity Roundtable initiative, released a report that identifies numerous areas in which the health care system in Greater Boston fails the needs of transgender individuals.
Mat-Su Health Foundation Report: March 2017
The Mat-Su Health Foundation has published the findings of its 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The report, “Health is Where We Live, Learn, Work and Play,” identified the top factors that affect the health of local residents.
Maine Health Access Foundation Report: March 2017
A new report released by the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) and the University of Southern Maine, Mental Health Status and Access to Health Care Service for Adults in Maine, describes how adults 18 and older in Maine who report depression and poor mental health have many barriers to getting health care.
Flipping the Switch: Moving from Vaccine Hesitancy to Vaccine Confidence
Clearly, the emergence of “vaccine hesitancy” as an increasingly common theme in health care settings demands attention—and flipping the switch from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine confidence is a necessary and critical step to protect the public’s health moving forward.
Helping Funders Adapt to a Changing Policy Landscape
I recently joined local policy experts and colleagues from Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees and Grantmakers for Education in a Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers forum on the 2016 presidential election’s implications for philanthropy.