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.
To Build a Healthier Nation, We Must Have a Fair Count
Every decade, the Census Bureau fulfills a constitutionally-mandated count of every person living in the
United States. Data derived from the Decennial Census and the ongoing American Community Survey form the statistical backbone for public health, hospitals, insurance, and dozens of federal and other government programs. This data is also an important tool for funder decision-making. For funders focused on health equity, quality data is needed to provide a better understanding of health disparities and the advancement of health equity goals.
Grantmakers In Health’s Partnership with Grantmakers In Aging Highlighted in Inside Philanthropy Interview
Grantmakers In Health’s ongoing partnership with Grantmaking In Aging (GIA) advocating for the renewal of the Older Americans Act (OAA) was featured in a July 19, 2024 Inside Philanthropy interview with GIA CEO Lindsay A. Goldman. In her comments, Goldman discussed the partnership’s accomplishments and why the OAA is important to funders: “We launched an…
Grantmakers in Health and Grantmakers In Aging Release Feedback on Draft Legislation to Reauthorize the Older Americans Act
On July 18, 2024, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) and Grantmakers In Aging (GIA) responded to a request for feedback from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on the discussion draft to reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA). In their letter to the committee, GIH and GIA applauded the inclusion of the…
2024 Terrance Keenan Institute Fellows Named
GIH is delighted to announce the 2024 Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy class of fellows.
Help Shape Next Year’s Grantmakers In Health Annual Conference
Grantmakers In Health (GIH) is seeking volunteers to serve on our 2025 Annual Conference Proposal Review Committee. Committee member feedback is a critical way for GIH to ensure that the annual conference agenda includes high quality, engaging sessions that reflect the interests of the health philanthropy field.
Building Stronger Early Childhood Systems: Reflections from Western Montana
What happened when a regional health foundation team embarked on a road trip and drank 600 cups of coffee with their neighbors? They discovered that Western Montanans were tired of band-aid solutions and frustrated with interventions that always seemed to arrive too late. People wanted to focus on prevention to address problems at their roots. They hoped to see more collaboration between organizations and across sectors and emphasized that solutions should be locally born and cultivated, focusing especially on kids in their earliest years.