Productive Partnerships
Twenty years ago, a small group of grantmakers launched a Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN), seeking to bridge health and environmental philanthropy and to focus more attention on links between human, wildlife, and ecosystem health. One of my first tasks as HEFN’s first staffer was to try to engage health funders in this enterprise.
Creating a Neutral Space, Pursuing a Common Mission
Importantly, FCAA created a neutral space for funders; one where individual organizational agendas took a back seat to a unifying mission. This space became an incubator for philanthropic action.
2019 Annual Conference Plenary Remarks: Richard Besser
Dr. Richard Besser, President and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shares his insights on putting health equity front and center.
Trends in Health Philanthropy: Oral Health Care Access and Equity
We should not have to make the case for oral health programming, but the reality is that the health effects of oral health disparities are not widely recognized—despite the fact that these disparities continue to be persistent and pervasive.
Building the Will, and the Way, to Advance Equity at the Maine Health Access Foundation
In 2016, the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) Board approved an extension of its strategic plan, as a bridge between the founding CEO and a new leader. Two issues were added to MeHAF’s work: equity, and the opiate epidemic. We had ideas about how to tackle the latter. We did not know where to start with the former.
Supporting Health Care and Community-Based Organization Partnerships to Address Social Determinants of Health
Increasingly, health systems, providers, and payers recognize the significant influence that social factors such as housing, food insecurity, employment status, and transportation have on well-being and health care spending.