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.
Foundation for a Healthy High Point: November 2022
The rate of teen pregnancy in Greater High Point decreased between 2010 and 2020, the rates of pre-term births, low birth-weight babies, and infant mortality increased slightly and remained above the state average, according to the “Healthy Beginnings in Greater High Point” study.
Episcopal Health Foundation: November 2022
Key findings from a new statewide survey on social determinants of health say that medical care alone isn’t enough for a person to live a healthy life, so the state should invest more resources to address non-medical factors like unemployment, neighborhood conditions, and housing.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation: November 2022
A new report, “Creating a Robust, Diverse, and Resilient Behavioral Health Workforce in Massachusetts” describes challenges that have put the behavioral health workforce in crisis and outlines seven recommendations.
Philanthropy @ Work – Grants and Programs – November 2022
The latest on grants and programs from the field.
Cara V. James Interviewed on Rural Matters Podcast: Fostering Healthier Rural Communities
Cara V. James was interviewed by Michael Levin-Epstein on the November 15, 2022 episode of the Rural Matters podcast about GIH’s work to support rural populations, combatting racial and socioeconomic disparities in rural health, philanthropy’s role in closing workforce gaps in rural communities, and more.
Impact Investing Opportunities to Advance Water, Health, and Equity
A new report from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation outlines ways that philanthropy can use strategic investments to help ensure that drinking water is safe for all.