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
Recently Featured
Featured Public Statements – January 2024
We have compiled a collection of public statements from foundations to provide communications staff with examples of responses to various issues.
Health Policy Update: January 2024
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 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.
Paid Leave and Job Protection for Parents, People Who Are Sick and People Who Have Sick Family Members
Lack of paid family caregiving and medical leave policy at the national level makes the United States a global outlier. In the absence of a national guarantee, more than a dozen states have passed and implemented necessary paid family and medical leave. WORLD Policy Analysis Center has developed a database and policy briefs that describe paid leave laws and policies.
Health Policy Update: December 2023
The Health Policy Update is a new monthly newsletter produced in collaboration with Trust for America’s Health. Drawing on GIH’s policy priorities outlined in our 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.
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.