Featured Resources
Raising the Bar on Voting Accessibility in Missouri
Missouri Foundation for Health has developed a policy brief with recommendations supporting the efforts of the disability community across the state to make voting processes more accessible for all Missourians.
Fair Maps For Better Health Outcomes
Non-Partisan Redistricting Advances Community Health Priorities. Without Fair Representation, Community Priorities Can’t Compete. It’s no coincidence that some of our most gerrymandered states have some of the worst health outcomes. Philanthropy can’t solve health inequities alone. But supporting community-led work to secure fair districts can help change the system – and strengthen our democracy – by allowing communities to choose responsive lawmakers who will fight for better health policy.
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.
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Latest Resources
Humana Foundation Advances Equity Through Community-Engaged Research Practices
Grantmakers In Health’s Maya Schane spoke with Heather Hyden and Soojin Conover of the Humana Foundation about the Foundation’s recently published report, Strengthening Science and Community Impact Through Equitable Research Practices. The report examines innovative research methods adopted by the Foundation’s partners to promote health equity in public health research through community-engaged research practices.
Collaborating for Impact: Providing Trust-Based Grantmaking and Technical Assistance to Support Local Resilience to Extreme Weather Events
In the last few years, there has been an increased number of extreme weather events, including wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and heatwaves in the United States. In 2023, the United States experienced 28 disasters that cost at least $1 billion, the largest number of billion-dollar disasters in a single year on record (Smith 2024). While some areas of the country are more susceptible to these threats, there are no regions immune to disasters. According to a recent Gallup poll, 37 percent of adults in the United States report they have been personally impacted by at least one extreme weather event in the last two years, which is higher than the 2022/2023 survey result at 33 percent.
Working Through Challenges to Sharing Power With Community: Highlights from a Session at Grantmakers in Health’s Annual Conference
The people closest to the issue best know the solutions. For health funders, sharing power with community could mean giving residents a voice in shaping your grantmaking priorities or where grant dollars are spent. Many funders understand that solutions are more likely to be successful when the people who are most affected have a voice in shaping them. But when it comes to including that voice, the work often stalls before it starts.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation: July 2025
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation announced a new grant opportunity: the Advancing Community Driven Mental Health grant program. This program will fund five community-based organizations with grants of up to $100,000 per year for two years, starting in December 2025, to improve and increase access to community based mental health services for adults experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress and practical problems of daily living, and develop the skills of a non-clinical workforce.
Remarks on Defending Philanthropy’s Freedom to Give
President and CEO of Grantmakers In Health (GIH), Cara V. James, delivered opening remarks at the 2025 GIH Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy in New Orleans.
From Recovery to Resilience: Investing in Collaborative Infrastructure for Health and Equity
After the 2018 Camp Fire – the most destructive and deadly wildfire in California’s history – the California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative (CACHI) understood that the community needed more than programming to recover. In response, the region’s Accountable Community for Health (ACH) was created – a community-rooted, cross-sector collaborative that invests in local leadership to shift systems, influence policy, and address both long-standing inequities and urgent crises.
Reports and Publications
Building an Evidence-Base for Gun Violence Prevention: Research and Data Needs
Gun violence prevention research is woefully underfunded, receiving significantly less research funding and scientific attention compared with other leading causes of death. Using a methodology that calculated expected levels of research investment based on mortality rates, one study estimated that between 2004 and 2015 gun violence received just 1.6 percent of the federal research support projected and had 4.5 percent of the volume of publications anticipated.
Gun Violence Prevention Infographic (2018)
Gun violence is a public health crisis in the United States, with approximately 120,000 Americans injured or killed by guns each year. GIH surveyed Funding Partners in June 2018 to explore investments in gun violence prevention and found that health funders who support gun violence prevention efforts are investing in a wide range of prevention strategies, including support for high-risk populations and policy advocacy. The survey results have been compiled into a one-page summary infographic.
Violence Is Preventable
Mass shootings command public attention, but for too many Americans violence is a threat that must be confronted every day. Violent crime, although low relative to historical rates, has risen in recent years and disproportionally affects poor, racially segregated, urban neighborhoods (U.S. Department of Justice 2017; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2016).