Advancing Health and Creating Lasting Impact: MacKenzie Scott’s Grants to Health Foundations
In 2019, MacKenzie Scott announced that she was stepping into the world of philanthropy to give away her multi-billion-dollar fortune “until the safe is empty”. She has kept her word—to date, she has given away $16.5 billion. Her initial process for choosing which organizations would receive grants was shrouded in mystery. From 2019 to 2023, Scott used a process she termed “quiet research” to identify possible grantee organizations. The lucky organizations received a call from Scott’s consultants, who let them know they were receiving a grant for immediate use however they would like to spend it. In the Fall of 2022, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) became one of those grantee organizations, along with more than 20 health foundations. Two additional GIH Funding Partner organizations received gifts in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Public Health Approaches to Firearm Violence Prevention
Firearm injuries are a serious public health problem, killing more than 47,000 Americans each year and becoming the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States in 2020. Given the impact and complexity of this health crisis, Grantmakers in Health (GIH) hosted a first-ever preconference session focused on firearm violence in advance of the June 2023 GIH Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy. Session speakers briefed partners on the causes of gun violence and provided an opportunity for health funders to learn more about potential solutions through a public health lens. This Issue Brief provides highlights of the meeting’s proceedings and previews GIH’s plans to convene a funder learning collaborative on firearm violence prevention to continue the peer learning and sharing that began at the preconference session.
Civic Engagement Is a Social Determinant of Health
What is the civic health of the communities you serve? Are community members equitably engaged in democratic processes and civic life? How might increased levels of civic engagement influence the distribution of public sector resources, population health outcomes, and health inequities? Is it possible to imagine transformative changes in community health absent a meaningful shift in community power and civic participation?
Public Private Partnerships to Strengthen the Public Health Infrastructure
How strong is your organization’s relationship with local health departments in the communities you serve? Do you view governmental public health as an essential partner? How can you best increase and improve support for state and local public health departments? What types of investments are most likely to yield transformative change? As the future of public health hangs in the balance, philanthropic organizations must renew their commitment to governmental public health agencies and reimagine strategies for strengthening these partnerships.
Climate Change, Health, and Equity: Action Steps for Health Philanthropy
Climate change is one of the biggest health and equity issues of our time. The scale of climate change can be daunting, and some may think of the issue as the sole responsibility of federal, state, local, and tribal governments—however, philanthropy has an essential role to play.
Funder Strategies to Support Oral Health Care Access and Equity
Stark inequities in oral health care access and outcomes reflect the United States’ deepest societal divides and overarching social justice concerns. Health philanthropy is among the sectors aspiring to accelerate change and drive upstream solutions in a period of increasing vulnerability for communities heavily impacted by the downstream effects of oral health disparities.
COVID-19: Foundations Help Rural Communities Respond and Recover
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing disparities in vulnerable rural communities, which place the 46 million Americans in rural geographies in a particularly precarious situation. In the spring of 2020, Grantmakers In Health reached out to several funders engaged in this work to better understand their perspectives on rural response and recovery and to share those examples with the broader field to assist funders as they determine future needs and strategies in rural areas.
No Time for ‘Business As Usual’: Health Philanthropy Responds to the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the novel coronavirus races across the globe, health funders are urgently preparing for and responding to COVID-19 in the communities they serve. While past public health crises inform COVID-19 response, there is no proven playbook for how health philanthropy should respond to this rapidly evolving threat.
Responding to the Opioid and Drug Overdose Epidemic
The opioid epidemic remains a critical public health crisis that necessitates philanthropic attention. Philanthropy is uniquely suited to respond to immediate challenges while also supporting broader systems change.
Data-Driven Approaches to Achieving Health Equity
GIH convened grantmakers to explore innovative ways to use data to advance health equity. Read the actionable guidance for these efforts that emerged from the meeting’s proceedings.