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.
Cross-Sector Collaboration to Expand Early Access to Whole-Person, Supportive Cancer Care
For many common cancers, the rates of incidence are on the rise. In 2024, first-time new cases of cancer in the United States are expected to reach two million, or almost 5,500 cancer diagnoses a day, with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities experiencing a higher incidence. Within the health care system, there are multiple challenges to equitable care related to gaps in health insurance, access to care and culturally relevant care models, and discrimination and bias in care and treatment.
Driving Change through Public-Private Collaboration at Age + Action 2024
On May 7, 2024, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) and Grantmakers In Aging (GIA) cohosted a funders-only meeting at the National Council on Aging’s Age + Action 2024 conference. The session, “Driving Change through Public-Private Collaboration,” focused on bridging connections between the public and private sectors to improve the health and well-being of older adults in…
United Hospital Fund: May 2024
The United Hospital Fund of New York released a report, The Ripple Effects of the Adolescent Behavioral Health Crisis, which analyzes the behavioral health crisis in the United States and groups who are disproportionately affected. The report also quantifies the impact of the adolescent behavioral health crisis on medical costs, productivity, and wages.
The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust: May 2024
The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust recently published a 10-year evaluation of Healthy Places NC, its signature place-based initiative to improve health in rural NC communities. The Healthy Places NC evaluation provides insights for fellow funders in various sectors who want to shift norms, systems, power dynamics, and other conditions that produce inequity, particularly in rural communities.
In July of 2020, the Foundation worked with partners to conduct a survey of over 1,000 Missouri adults to understand firearm-related beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors within the state with the intent of informing stakeholders interested in firearm injury and death prevention. Topics for the reports include firearm suicide beliefs and practices, perceptions and storage practices, background checks, and more.
Missouri Foundation for Health: May 2024
The Missouri Foundation for Health recently released a series of publications based on the findings of its Missouri Firearms Survey.
In July of 2020, the Foundation worked with partners to conduct a survey of over 1,000 Missouri adults to understand firearm-related beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors within the state with the intent of informing stakeholders interested in firearm injury and death prevention. Topics for the reports include firearm suicide beliefs and practices, perceptions and storage practices, background checks, and more.