Grantmakers In Health

GIH is excited to announce the opening plenary of our 2026 Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Health.” Speakers will include Delegate Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk, Speaker of the House, Maryland General Assembly, Dr. Richard E. Besser, President and CEO of RWJFoundation, and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Howard University

Speaker Peña-Melnyk has dedicated her career to advancing equity, justice, and accessible health care for all Marylanders. She has served as a member of the House of Delegates since 2006, and in December 2025, her colleagues unanimously elected her as the 109th Speaker of the House. She is the first Afro–Latina in the nation to serve as a presiding legislative officer.

In his role at RWJF, Dr. Besser is a leading voice on paving the way, in partnership with communities, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right. Prior to joining RWJF, Dr. Besser served for eight years as Chief Health and Medical Editor for ABC News and as a leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he worked for 13 years.

Dr. Kendi is one of the world’s foremost historians of racism and a leading anti-racist scholar. He is the Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History at Howard University and the inaugural director of Howard’s Institute for Advanced Study. A bestselling author, Dr. Kendi has published 18 books for adults and children.

It’s not too late to join the conversation in Baltimore from June 8-11! Register today to be part of the largest annual gathering of health funders in the country 👉 https://buff.ly/kpBnBuT

California’s Central Valley is one of the nation’s main agricultural powerhouses, producing an abundance of food products at a speed and scale that few regions in America can rival. Yet the health inequity in this region is stark, as unsustainable practices lead to water and air contamination, and healthy food is sold elsewhere to those willing to pay more.

A new Views from the Field article features Cultiva La Salud, an organization whose work uses a food systems approach to increase access to healthy food in disadvantaged neighborhoods while creating economic opportunities for these communities by positioning them to become small food business owners.

Learn more 👇

Cultivating Health Through Shared Prosperity and Street Food - Grantmakers In Health A native of Fresno, I was raised in California’s Central Valley where I have now worked for a few decades. As a first-generation college student, my lived experience is very common for the children of farmworkers. My extended Mexican family was big, poor, uninsured, and suffered many losses from v...

Colorado is exploring a new approach to public funding for youth well-being: one that focuses not just on effort and investment, but on alignment and coordination across systems.

In a new Views from the Field article, Renu Gupta-Fitzgerald of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment shares how the state’s Grant Prioritization Task Force is working to coordinate funding, data, and strategy across agencies to improve outcomes for youth and make grantmaking more accessible for community-based organizations.

Read the article 👇

Funding Without Alignment Is Just Spending: Colorado’s Model for Alignment to Maximize Impacts on Youth Well-being - Grantmakers In Health Public funding for youth well-being isn’t lacking in effort or investment. But when dollars move through disconnected systems, even the best intentions can fail to translate into meaningful outcomes. What if the challenge isn’t how much we fund, but how those investments work together? Colorado ...

The GIH Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy is only a few short weeks away, but there is still time to register!

Join us from June 8-11 in Baltimore for the largest gathering of health funders in the country. On the agenda are some of the most pressing topics in health and philanthropy—from changes to Medicaid and SNAP to connections between a healthy democracy and healthy communities.

Register now to secure your spot 👉 https://buff.ly/CS4e1ir

A recent poll from GIH Funding Partner Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH)’s “The Right Time” initiative shows strong public support for access to birth control while highlighting concerns about future barriers to care. The findings underscore the need for lawmakers to advance policies that expand access to birth control across the state of Missouri.

“Missourians are sending a clear message: people want access to birth control, and they want leaders who will support policies that make it easier to get the care they need,” said Michelle Trupiano, Executive Director of Beacon Reproductive Health Network, who led the initiative. “When people are already facing barriers like cost, insurance coverage, and clinic access, strengthening Missouri’s reproductive health safety net is more important than ever.”

Read the full press release 👇

New Poll: 85% of Missourians Support Birth Control Access, Highlighting Need for Action - Missouri Foundation for Health A new poll from The Right Time finds widespread concern about future barriers as lawmakers consider measures to expand birth control access in Missouri.

Asked which issues foundation leaders should pay attention to in 2026, almost 40% of nonprofit leaders in the latest Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) study called attention to pressing basic needs and the maintenance of the social safety net.

Amid a challenging funding environment, hear directly from nonprofit leaders about how their organizations are faring—and what they are seeing in their communities—in CEP’s new State of Nonprofits report:

State of Nonprofits 2026 | The Center for Effective Philanthropy CEP's State of Nonprofits 2026 offers vital insight into how nonprofits are faring amidst unprecedented challenges since early 2025.

As Medicaid Awareness Month wraps up this April, the need to protect Medicaid from massive cuts and structural changes proposed under HR-1 is greater than ever.

GIH’s Funding Partners are not waiting to respond—they are standing with partners, ensuring communities are informed, and building coalitions to defend access to quality, affordable health care for all.

🔗 Learn more about Medicaid awareness month:

Medicaid Awareness Month 2026 | Protect Medicaid $1 trillion in cuts threaten 7.5 million Americans' Medicaid coverage. April is Medicaid Awareness Month — learn the facts and take action.

Artificial intelligence is moving quickly across health care and public health, reshaping how evidence is generated, how care is delivered, and how systems respond to emerging needs.

To determine how to make sure these tools are reliable, fair, and trustworthy, American Institutes for Research (AIR) has launched an RFI seeking ideas from researchers, innovators, and practitioners working on AI-enabled projects that strengthen health systems, address disparities, and improve population health.

Read the full RFI and submit your idea by May 7: https://buff.ly/GfvqY3Y

Even under extraordinary pressure, nonprofits across the U.S. are continuing to show up for their communities. But how are these organizations faring, and what support do they need?

The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) will be hosting a webinar on May 12 at 12 pm ET to present the findings of their annual “State of Nonprofits” survey, revealing both the challenges nonprofits are facing and how leaders are adapting to meet this moment.

🔗 Register: https://buff.ly/2ZWEnkB

Partnership Across Distance: The Texas Panhandle In rural communities, distance shapes everything - e.g. distance to the nearest hospital; distance to a licensed counselor; or distance to broadband access. When it comes to mental health care, those distances can become barriers.But what if distance didn’t mean disconnection? What if partners...