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.
HHS Launches New Food is Medicine Virtual Toolkit
The Toolkit was developed in response to the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health and to support communities design and implement effective Food is Medicine interventions.
Biden-Harris Administration Announces $75 Million Investment in Rural Health Care
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced nearly $75 million to support health care services in rural America. Funding will launch new opioid treatment and recovery services in rural communities, strengthen maternal health care in the South, and help rural hospitals stay open.
Developing an Equitable Nonprofit Ecosystem: A New Funding Framework for Emerging, BIPOC-Led Grantees
In philanthropy, it is standard due diligence practice to vet potential grantees on their list of current, past, and future funders as a way to mitigate our perceived risk. However, this approach can put many emerging, grassroots, and BIPOC-led organizations out of contention for initial funding. The John Muir Community Health Fund has shifted the way we fundamentally see risk, and instead, have embraced the opportunity to fund emerging organizations that address social determinants of health by providing monetary support, capacity building, and ultimately a proof of concept that propels grantees to long-term sustainability.
Advancing Health Equity and Fostering Collaboration through Black Maternal and Child Health Initiatives
When basic social needs go unmet, they become the principal drivers of health disparities. Recognizing this, the Health Foundation of South Florida has been advancing a collaborative approach that brings together health systems and community-based organizations and paves the way for implementing promising social interventions. Through this approach, the Health Foundation seeks to drive improved health outcomes and greater coordination to address unmet health-related social needs within clinical care settings.
Building Strong Foundations: Addressing the Needs of Diverse Families in New Hampshire
When families have the conditions they need to thrive, children thrive. In 2020, the Endowment for Health, Child Trends, and people in communities across New Hampshire began work that would become the Early Childhood Equity Movement (ECEM). Research in this movement is paving the way for greater equity in family services, services like early care, education, and health care. All families should have access to these services. Too many do not.
Bridging the Gap: How Philanthropy Can Help Public Agencies to Engage Equitably with Underserved Communities
Local public agencies are at a crossroads. Over the last few years, in response to racial justice protests and inequities made more visible by the Covid-19 pandemic, many local public agencies have worked to improve their engagement with low-income and underserved communities—especially communities of color. By adopting equity-centered approaches to community engagement, public agencies can better ensure their policies and programs lead to improvements for communities facing disproportionate health burdens.