Behavioral Health Strategies

GIH conducted a survey in late 2024 on funder engagement in behavioral health. This fact sheet, based on a sample of 139 health funders, summarizes the current trends, gaps, successes and challenges for funders. It also highlights philanthropy’s continued commitment to behavioral health while also signaling concern about the upcoming funding environment.  

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Considering Quality: Engaging Consumers to Make Better Health Decisions

Given information and opportunity, consumers can play an important role in improving health care quality and the responsiveness of the health system to their needs. Whether they are making decisions about choosing a health plan, a particular provider, a course of treatment, or how to incorporate healthy choices into their daily lives, empowered and engaged consumers can be a potent force for change.

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Agents of Change

This resource portfolio is from GIH’s 2005 annual meeting,  Agents of Change: Health Philanthropy’s Role in Transforming Systems.

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Medicaid: Vital to Women’s Health

Although Medicaid is not usually perceived as a women’s health program, it covers critically important medical care for 12 million American women.  Grantmakers with a focus on women’s health are paying close attention to proposals to restructure the Medicaid program, which could have major implications for low-income women’s access to health care services.

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Improving the Health and Well-being of Children in Foster Care

As a group, children in foster care may be the unhealthiest children in America. They are substantially more likely to have health problems than children in other groups at risk for poor health status, including children in low-income families, homeless children, and children in families receiving public assistance.

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Improving Health Access in Communities: Lessons for Effective Grantmaking

Improving Health Access in Communities: Lessons for Effective Grantmaking highlights grantmaking lessons from two initiatives designed to help alleviate the burden of high uninsurance rates at the local level: Communities in Charge program, funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and Community Voices, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. This report details the valuable strategic lessons learned from these initiatives. Lessons related to developing community coalitions, creating successful grantor-grantee relationships, and understanding the comparative advantages of national and local funders are relevant to grantmakers funding or planning to fund in this and other health issues. 

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Funding Health Advocacy

Funding Health Advocacy incorporates the essence and richness of the discussion at GIH’s November 2004 Issue Dialogue on health advocacy with a background paper previously prepared for the meeting. It focuses on the challenges and opportunities involved with funding advocacy and engaging in public policy work. This Issue Brief complements GIH’s ongoing work to support grantmakers in their efforts to fund policy-relevant projects and builds upon GIH’s track record of work on grantmakers’ strategies for shaping public policy.

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The Business of Giving: Governance and Asset Management in Foundations Formed From Health Care Conversion

This report looks at the composition and function of boards of directors in foundations formed from health care conversions, as well as how the foundations manage the investment of their assets. This report is the latest in GIH’s series of reports on these foundations. 

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