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.

Building the Community Health Worker Field through Partnership and Innovation

Minnesota is home to the country’s largest Somali and
second-largest Hmong populations and has significant numbers of immigrants from Central and
South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. It is also home to the
largest urban population of Native Americans. With many
cultures come many different beliefs on health and illness, and
treatment and prevention options.

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Better Health Through Better Philanthropy - Grantmakers in Health

Giving Voice to Oral Health in Kansas: Benefits of Long-Term Commitment

Someone recently used the term philanthropy du jour,
and it was not meant as a positive appellation. As a field,
we increasingly see longevity as virtue whether it comes
under the guise of general operating support, capacity building, or place-based or strategic grantmaking. The work of the
United Methodist Health Ministry Fund in a single field –
oral health – began in late 1998. My reflections attempt to
capture the results of this extended $11-million initiative.

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Better Health Through Better Philanthropy - Grantmakers in Health

Foundation Collaboration: Partnering to Improve Young Children’s Oral Health

Dental disease is the single most common chronic childhood disease and is so widespread and the health effects so significant that the U.S. Surgeon General has classified dental disease as a silent epidemic (HHS 2000).

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It Takes Many Villages to Create a Public Health Improvement Plan

Public health has gained attention in Colorado over the last four years as a result of a partnership that includes health foundations, the Colorado School of Public Health, the state legislature, and state and local health agencies.

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Paid Sick Days: A Health Policy for Everyone

When the H1N1 pandemic broke out, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged sick people to stay home. Unfortunately, for many Americans, staying home meant losing income, losing a good shift, or worse, losing their job.

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2010 Inaugural Class of the Terrance Keenan Institute Fellows Announced

Grantmakers In Health is pleased to announce that the following individuals have been selected to participate in the inaugural Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy.

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