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.
Access to future editions of the Health Policy Update is one of many benefits exclusive to GIH Funding Partners and Philanthropy Support Partners.
Check out the November 2023 Edition and click here to learn more about joining the GIH network.
Introducing Grantmakers In Health’s Health Policy Update
The Health Policy Update is a new Grantmakers In Health (GIH) monthly newsletter produced in collaboration with Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). Drawing on GIH’s policy priorities outlined in our 2023 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. New issues will be released on the first Wednesday of every month.
Each edition of the newsletter features the following sections:
- Spotlight—a look at a news item or opportunity that we believe is of special interest to Funding Partners;
- Congressional and Administration Updates—health policy news from the Hill and the Administration;
- Reports and Announcements—new reports and announcements related to health policy;
- Open Comment Opportunities and Requests for Information—opportunities to comment on Notices of Public Rulemaking (NPRM) and other requests for information;
- Open Sign-Ons and Endorsements—opportunities to join sign-on letters and statements and other policy endorsements; and
- Events—health policy public events and webinars of interest to Funding Partners.
Email us at info@gih.org to let us know what you think of the newsletter and how we might improve it to make it even more useful to you.
Letter From President Cara V. James
When we launched our strategic plan, we noted that to achieve our vision of better health for all through better philanthropy we would need to use our voice to take a more active role to influence advocacy, policy, and funding in targeted areas that will advance health and make a lasting, measurable impact. Our current health “system” is not designed to promote health and wellness, but to provide care once a person is sick, and it is built on a foundation of inequity based on health coverage, or a lack thereof.
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GIH Bulletin: November/December 2023
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.
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.
GIH Bulletin: October 2023
Grantmakers In Health began 2023 by announcing an ambitious set of health policy priorities supporting four key goals—to advance health equity and social justice, to expand health care access and improve quality of care, to improve population health, and to promote community engagement and empowerment. Throughout the year, we aligned our work with our policy agenda, which was reflected in much of the programming at the 2023 GIH Annual Conference in Minneapolis, in our recent position statement on the 2023 Farm Bill, and in much of our other programming. Next week’s Fall Forum in Washington, DC, furthers GIH’s policy agenda, serving as a springboard for our continued engagement on policy in 2024.
A Compendium of State Policies to Curb Hospital Prices and Reduce Medical Debt
Health care in the United States is the most expensive in the world by far and the reason is simple – health care providers keep increasing the prices of services. Hospitals, which represent the largest component of health care spending, have an outsized influence on medical debt in their communities through their policies and behavior.
Grantmakers In Health Position Statement: Nutrition Security in the 2023 Farm Bill
Grantmakers In Health firmly believes a Farm Bill that prioritizes a wholistic approach addressing both the roots causes of nutrition insecurity and the immediate needs of communities is of paramount importance to health and can lead to better health for all.
Philanthropic Joint Statement in Response to the Supreme Court’s Decision in ‘Students for Fair Admissions’ Cases
Grantmakers In Health joined with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ford Foundation, Health Forward Foundation, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, Grantmakers In the Arts, and 35 other philanthropy organizations in responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina removing race as a consideration for college admissions.
Policy Positions
