Remembering Patricia Mathews, Founding President and CEO of Northern Virginia Health Foundation
Grantmakers In Health (GIH) is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Patricia Mathews, a longtime fixture in health philanthropy and a former member of the GIH board of directors. Please join us in celebrating Patricia Mathews’ memory, as well as her many contributions to the field of health philanthropy and GIH.
Funders Together for Housing Justice: March 2026
A new publication has been released: Caring Collectively: How Health Funders Can Step into the Movement for Housing Justice to End Homelessness. It is designed to support how health-focused foundations can engage in housing justice work in ways that align with their existing priorities.
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 Partnersi 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.
Building the Evidence: Investing in Research Supporting the Need for Healthy and Active Schools
Those leading our education system today face an enormous amount of pressure, from funding issues to curriculum changes, from absenteeism to state assessment scores. With so much to consider and so much to fit into each school day, leaders are often forced to make decisions that de-prioritize an important aspect of a child’s development: physical activity. Following discussions with numerous stakeholders, the Kansas Health Foundation found that a critical missing piece in making the case for the importance of physical activity at school was timely, state-specific data linking student fitness and academics.
GIH Announces New Board Members
Antony Chiang, Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, Garth Graham, and Brenda Sharpe have been elected to its board of directors. Their terms begin immediately after the GIH annual conference in March.
Demonstrating Behavioral Health Impact Using Intensive Community-Based Services
Individuals experiencing an acute episode of mental illness often face challenges navigating a fragmented health care delivery system and overcoming barriers to access appropriate medical and mental health services.
What We Learned from the First Open Enrollment Period, and What to Expect from the Second
As work gets rolling for the second open enrollment period, it is an opportune time to reflect on lessons learned from the first open enrollment period, especially since the second one is shorter and there are fewer navigator resources available from the federal government.
Starting Early: Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood
In late 2009 The Boston Foundation shifted its health grantmaking focus from access to prevention in order to address the rising tide of preventable chronic illness and the escalating health care costs stemming from the obesity epidemic.
The Legacy of The Bravewell Collaborative: Transforming Health Care through Integrative Medicine
A sea change is well underway in the United States regarding health, medicine, and health care delivery. By the early 2000s it was inescapable that obesity rates were climbing while medical costs were becoming unsustainable.