Policy and Advocacy Resources

Overview of the 119th Congress
A detailed overview of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, including leadership in both houses and key committee and subcommittee members.

Overview of the Executive Branch
A detailed overview of the U.S. executive branch, including the White House, Cabinet, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including organizational charts of key members of the White House policy team and HHS leadership.
Congressional Staff and Member Outreach
A detailed overview of how congressional offices, committees, and leadership are staffed. In addition, it provides recommended best practices for meeting with Members of Congress and their staff.
Grantmakers In Health’s five-year strategic plan elevates leadership and influence as one of four strategic pillars for our work. GIH seeks to take a more active role in defining the key issues that will advance better health for all. We are also supporting health philanthropy with the thought leadership and programming to create lasting impact by influencing advocacy, policy, and funding in targeted areas.
This policy agenda identifies our public policy priorities for the coming year. Informed by health funders, these priorities will guide our programming, influence decisions related to issuing public statements on timely policy issues, and focus our emerging advocacy efforts. We hope these priorities will also inspire the field of health philanthropy and encourage greater collaboration and commitment to common policy goals among funders. We look forward to working with funders and others to advance this agenda.
GIH Health Policy Update Newsletter
An Exclusive Resource for GIH Funding Partners
In an effort to help our Funding Partners better understand the changing health policy landscape in the new administration and Congress, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) is expanding the GIH Health Policy Update newsletter to three issues per month. Working in collaboration with Leavitt Partners, a leading health care policy consultancy, we are adding new installments of the newsletter on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, while we will continue to partner with Trust for America’s Health on the installment released on the second Wednesday of the month.
GIH Advocacy for the Reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (OAA)
The OAA provides critical services that address the social drivers of health for older adults. Grantmakers In Health (GIH) and Grantmakers In Aging (GIA) are partnering to engage funders in advancing the reauthorization of this important piece of legislation.
Upcoming Policy & Advocacy Events
Resources from Policy & Advocacy Events
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Beyond Grantmaking: Health Foundations as Policy Change Agents
This GIH report seeks to help the field of health philanthropy maximize its strategic potential and minimize the difficulties inherent in taking on new roles by both describing ways funders are directly engaging in policy change efforts and distilling the key lessons learned from these experiences.
“Acting Bigger” by Partnering with Government
In the spring of 2014, the Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF) convened more than a dozen health legacy foundation CEOs from throughout the southeastern United States to reflect on the Monitor Institute’s monograph, What’s Next for Philanthropy: Acting Bigger and Adapting Better in a Networked World.
Reflections on Building the Advocacy Capacity of Nonprofit Organizations
The Kansas Health Foundation reflects on a series of multiyear, targeted investments to build Kansas Action for Children’s advocacy capacity, and shares several lessons learned along the way.
Stepping Out: One Foundation’s Lessons Learned from Leading a Ballot Initiative
The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (HCF) shares lessons learned from an evaluation of its involvement in Missouri’s 2012 tobacco tax ballot initiative, one of the first times when HCF stepped into the public sphere in support of an issue.