From the Annual Conference to the Fall Forum, 2022 has been a year of celebration to mark 40 years of Grantmakers In Health. We launched this milestone occasion with a new five-year strategic plan and complementary vision, Better Health For All Through Better Philanthropy. Our renewed vision for health philanthropy has served as a point of reflection and a path forward. This year has asked us to deepen every component of this mission, and everyone in the GIH community has answered thoughtfully.
To reflect on 40 years of collaboration, we turned to 40 voices in our network of current and former Grantmakers In Health Funding Partners, Terrance Keenan Institute alum, and staff members to consider the future of philanthropy and how the last four decades catalyze the work ahead. We heard stories of change and growth, successes and challenges. We heard about lightbulb moments at webinars and discussions, and nascent cross-sector partnerships formed through connections and encouragement from GIH staff members. Most importantly, we heard that Better Health For All Through Better Philanthropy is an exciting work-in-progress. It has never been clearer that our network has the insights and verve to progress our vision for the future. Read a few of these highlights below and don’t hesitate to reach out to Communications Director Jeff Barrus at jbarrus@gih.org to share your story.
Providing a Foundation for Collaboration
“GIH highlights key trends and issues we face as health foundations and provides a national lens and exposure to potential solutions. GIH is a great resource for us when we need to connect with peer organizations or to learn how others in the field are approaching an issue.”
– Tiffany Donelson, President and CEO, Connecticut Health Foundation
“I was in active contact with my [Terrance Keenan Institute] fellowship cohort for several years. We would make a point of meeting if attending the same conference and checking in by phone regularly. I cofunded a few projects with different fellows and co-wrote an article (for GIH). Most importantly, we were sounding board for one another about our careers. I also developed relationships with various CEOs who advised as [Terrance Keenan Institute] faculty; they provided career guidance over the years.”
– Melinda Abrams, Executive Vice President of Programs, The Commonwealth Fund
A Network of Advice
“When the Rx Foundation was interested in exploring what we could do in the realm of advocacy – after more than 10 years focused on innovation in health care delivery – I turned to the GIH community for advice. GIH staff connected me with other foundation leaders who were further ahead on advocacy, organizing, and social justice as critical to getting to better health care and healthy communities. Based on the generous sharing of experience and advice, I built and launched (in 2019) an entirely new grant making program called Building Capacity for Health Advocacy and ran our first ever RFP. The ripple effects of this effort are many, and I could not have pulled this off without the GIH network.”
– Jennie Riley, Executive Director, Rx Foundation
Continuous Learning Together
“The annual GIH conference is affirming. We took 21 attendees to this year’s annual meeting because we take away so much that helps inform our work at MFH.”
– Dwayne Proctor, CEP & President, Missouri Health Foundation
“Through the pre-conference site visits, listening sessions hosted by GIH leadership, and outreach to local and regional philanthropic networks GIH is embedding itself with other partners. The plenary speakers at this year’s national conference were absolutely right that our work has to evolve to be able to realize the change we want to see in our communities.”
– Rosemary Veniegas, Senior Program Officer, California Community Foundation
“One of the benefits of participation on the GIH Board is that it is a very effective peer-learning community. I remember a very good conversation at one meeting where a foundation president from a rural community was leading the conversation on gun violence prevention and the frustrating political culture that interferes with attempts to address the issue. Funders from around the country were commiserating and brainstorming ideas, and it led to programming on how health funders can address gun violence as a public health issue.”
– David Churchill, Database and Website Specialist, Grantmakers In Health
Finding a Common Purpose
“GIH is a big tent, and I think it and its members can have the greatest impact on health equity when we work together and play to our individual and collective strengths. Some foundations can lobby, others can fund c4’s, others support operations and capacity of both nascent and highly needed health and human service organizations and systems. All of us can, and should, endeavor to deepen our understanding of the roles of social determinants of health and structural and institutional racism and their impacts on health. When we are honest and authentically engage with one another and in community, and identify and share common goals, purpose and strategies, we can leverage not only significant funding resources, but also critical human capital, brainpower and voice to advance creative solutions more likely to positively impact the most pressing population health issues facing us today and in the future.”
– Brenda R. Sharpe, President & CEO, REACH Healthcare Foundation
The Future of Better Health For All Through Better Philanthropy
“Grantmakers In Health has truly embraced the idea that we can’t improve the health of all of us without working to address the racial injustices that are embedded in our health system. By connecting staff members tasked with focusing on equity across the field of health philanthropy, GIH has helped refine and discover new strategies for combatting racial health disparities.”
– La June Mongomery Tabron, CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
“Philanthropy should be focused on strategies that provide equitable access to supports necessary to lead healthy lives, and GIH can help get us there by facilitating inclusive dialogue across sectors, generations, and lived experience and routinely encouraging its network to take timely action.”
– Carol Sale, President & CEO, Williamsburg Health Foundation
“Having GIH promote intersectional frames, especially how social determinants impact the ability of communities to make decisions about their reproductive health, will strengthen philanthropic strategies across states.”
– Juana Rosa Cavero, Director of ReproCollab, Caring for Colorado
