Grantmakers In Health’s ongoing partnership with Grantmaking In Aging (GIA) advocating for the renewal of the Older Americans Act (OAA) was featured in a July 19, 2024 Inside Philanthropy interview with GIA CEO Lindsay A. Goldman. In her comments, Goldman discussed the partnership’s accomplishments and why the OAA is important to funders:
“We launched an unprecedented partnership with Grantmakers in Health at our conference in Austin in October 2023 to collaboratively raise money to support a campaign to reauthorize the act. We had partnered with them before, but never on a fund. It’s called the Champion Fund, and we raised $375,000 from 13 funders. We’re looking to raise a total of $450,000, so it’s still ongoing.
“Through that partnership, we’ve done a lot of education for members about what they are and are not permitted to do in terms of lobbying, given their tax status, including the difference between lobbying and educating representatives. A lot of our members are funding Older Americans Act programs, so we have something to say about this. We have a network of funders who are deeply passionate about aging but have never been activated around aging policy.”