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Public Health Funder Network

The APHA Public Health Funder Network brings together grantmakers, donors and APHA members who understand the pivotal role of philanthropy in enhancing population health outcomes and community well-being. The PHFN mission is to foster a cross-sector approach to tackle complex public health issues through collaboration and sharing best practices.

In an effort to build an increasingly informed and transparent public health funding community, a network of funders and donors has been convening during the APHA Annual Meeting since 2013. Unlike most grantmaker associations, APHA has a membership that includes practitioners, scientists, educators, students and funders, and its meetings facilitate cross-sector dialogue. The Public Health Funder Network believes these conversations enhance the public health sector’s ability, both strategically and collaboratively, to impact health outcomes by investing private resources judiciously in communities served.

APHA 2024 Annual Meeting

Join us Oct. 27-30, 2024 in Minneapolis to engage with others at the intersection of public health and philanthropy.

The APHA 2024 Public Health Funder Network activities will include:

  1. Seven peer-reviewed sessions for APHA Annual Meeting participants to learn about grantmaking in public health, discuss best practices and share work with other funders and the broader public health community.
  2. A business meeting for Public Health Funder Network Planning Committee members to evaluate activities and plan for next year. New members working in philanthropy are welcome to join.
  3. A social hour to highlight philanthropic partnerships with public health agencies and community-based organizations, engage in intentional dialogue and generate new insights on designing with community and innovating towards a more just public health system. 

Learn more about the APHA 2024 PHFN events

Registration

Registration is now open. Register early to secure the best rate. 

  • Early-bird registration: June 4-July 15
  • Advance registration: July 16-Sept. 16
  • Regular registration: Sept. 17-Oct. 25
  • Onsite registration: Oct. 26-30

We look forward to welcoming you to Minneapolis! 


Contact Us

Co-Chair: Irfan Hasan, Deputy Vice President for Grants, New York Community Trust, 212-686-1622

Co-Chair: Richard Thomason, Policy Director, Blue Shield of California Foundation, 916-702-4595

Founder and Co-Chair of Communications/Membership Subcommittee: Claudia Baier, Retired, VNA Foundation

Co-Chair of Communications/Membership Subcommittee: Rachel Baird, Program Officer, VNA Foundation

APHA Staff Liaison to the PHFN: Torrey WassermanDevelopment Manager, 202-777-2486


Creating the Funder Network I Needed (Philanthrofiles.org, Sept. 15, 2016)

We Need More Bridge-Builders in Our Fractured Era (PhilanthroFiles.org, Nov. 25, 2014)
Philanthropy helping public health achieve its objectives; Donors becoming health partners (The Nation's Health, February 2014)

Public Health Funder Network Milestones

2012
PHFN founded by APHA members based in Chicago

2013
PHFN session at the Annual Meeting in Boston: Achieving collective public health impact: building bridges between funders and community coalitions (session #3213.1)

2014
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in New Orleans

  1. Philanthropy’s role in advocacy and policy change (session #3118.0)
  2. The ACA and philanthropy: strategies to support implementation (session #3221.0)
  3. The next transformation in American healthcare: aligning health and healthcare (session #3327.0) 

2015
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in Chicago

  1. Public Health Funder Network reception (session #311.1)
  2. Philanthropic strategies to advance health in all policies (session #3007.0)
  3. Philanthropy’s role in measuring progress toward health improvement goals (session #3120.0)
  4. The dual role of foundations and grantees in catalyzing change through advocacy (session #3229.0)
  5. Taking collective action: engaging people, place and systems to improve health (session #3330.0)
  6. Public Health Funder Network business meeting (session #406.0)

2016
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in Denver

  1. Public Health Funder Network reception(session #299.0) Sponsored by the Colorado Health Foundation
  2. Five years of building health communities in California: mid-initiative accomplishments, lessons and adaptations (session #3014.0)
  3. Tools for designing and implementing adaptive funding strategies (session #3121.0) 
  4. It’s not just about checking boxes: evaluation and learning in philanthropic and pubic health practice (session #3326.0)
  5. Hospital community benefit: leveraging the opportunity for change (session #4010.0)
  6. Partnering with community: addressing equity and health disparities through philanthropy (session #4102.0)
  7. Public Health Funder Network business meeting (session #417.0)
  8. Capacity building 3.0: building sustainable learning communities for effective public health delivery (session #4288.0)

2017
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in Atlanta

  1. Public Health Funder Network reception (session #298.0) Sponsored by the Healthcare Georgia Foundation
  2. Developing cross-sector leaders to advance health equity (session #3018.0) 
  3. Funding public health in a time of political discord (session #3138.0) 
  4. Using policy as a lever for improving community health practice (session #3356.0)  
  5. The power of aligning partners through funding and impact measurement (session #4010.0) 
  6. Healing trauma: A funder's approach to addressing violence (session #4103.1) 
  7. Public Health Funder Network business meeting (session #416.0) 
  8. Improving rural children's health: funders as partners and catalysts (session #4290.0) 

2018
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in San Diego

  1. Public Health Funder Network reception (session #294) Sponsored by the Blue Shield of California Foundation
  2. Funding Grassroots, Community Solutions to Address Social Determinants of Health (session #3017)
  3. Public Health Funder Network business meeting (session #419)
  4. Centering Racial and Health Equity within Government: Lessons from Richmond, E. Salinas, Long Beach and Building Healthy Communities (session #3341)
  5. What Funders Can Do As The Opioid Epidemic Reconfigures Health Policy And Funding (session #4012)
  6. Exploring Challenges, Barriers and Results of Funders Collaborating to Expand Equity with Comprehensive School-based Health Services (session #4137)
  7. Funding and Building Cross-Sector Collaboratives to Improve Children's Health (session #4331)
  8. In Their Own Words: Community Organizers' Messages to Funders about What Works, Challenges Faced, and Relevance for Growing Health Equity Now (session #4398)

2019
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia

  1. The RISE Partnership: Multi-Sector Collaboration to Build Capacity for Readiness, Implementation and Sustainability for Effectiveness (session #3014)
  2. Grantmaking Foundations 101 (session #3122)
  3. Beyond Grantmaking: Catalyzing Philanthropy and Partnerships to Improve Community Health (session #3234)
  4. Public Health Funder Network Social Hour (session #337) Sponsored by Independence Blue Cross Foundation
  5. Placed-Based Investment for Health: What Have Foundations Learned (session #4010)
  6. From Hunger Relief to Food Sovereignty: Reimagining Funding Strategies for Community Health (session #4127)
  7. Public Health Funder Network Business Meeting (session #421)
  8. Trauma-Informed Philanthropy: Moving from Knowledge to Action (session #4317)

2020
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting (online)

  1. Partnerships for Change: New Foundation Strategies for Violence Prevention (session #3011)
  2. Grantmaking Foundations 101 (session #3097)
  3. Funding Research that Matters: Moving Beyond Inquiry to Action (session #3181)
  4. Impact Investing in Credible Community Messengers: Reducing the Generational Impact of Community Violence (session #4011)
  5. Activating Partnerships for Impact: How Philanthropy & Cross-Sector Collaboration Can Advance Mental Health and Addiction Outcomes (session #4104)
  6. Public Health Funder Network Business Meeting (session #413)
  7. Building Power to Advance Health Equity: Youth Justice Reform in the California Endowment's 10-Year Building Healthy Communities Initiative (session #4217)

2021
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting online and in Denver 

  1. Communities of Solutions: Strengthening Civic Muscle in South Texas (session #2018)
  2. Reimagining Philanthropy: Highlights of CDC Foundation Partnership and Strategies to Address Shifting Public Health Needs during the COVID-19 Pandemic (session #3016)
  3. COVID-19 in Prisons: A Crisis Obscured, but Which Cannot be Ignored (session #3100)
  4. Public Health Funder Network Social Hour (session #324) Sponsored by Caring for Colorado Foundation
  5. Philanthropy as a Bridge Toward Sustainability: Building Strategic Partnerships with City Systems (session #4006)
  6. Community-Based and Data-Informed Outreach and Messaging Strategies to Address Vaccine Hesitancy, Misinformation, and Access Issues in New York: Promoting Equitable COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Uptake (session #4062)
  7. Public Health Funder Network Business Meeting (session #408)
  8. Healthy Neighborhood Investments: How Public Health Can Champion Social Connectedness and Advance Health and Racial Equity Among Multi-Sector Partnerships and Community Development (session #4199)

2022
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in Boston

  1. Foundations as the Bridge: Translating Community Identified Behavioral Health Access Challenges to a Publicly Funded Solution
  2. Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundations – 3 perspectives on promoting Equity in Philanthropy
  3. Public Health Funder Network Social Hour (Sponsored by the BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts Foundation)
  4. Public Health Funder Network Business Meeting
  5. Engaging a Multi-sector Collaboration Toward Achieving Age-Friendly Health Systems in New York State
  6. Accountable Communities of/for Health: Growing evidence for multi-sector collaboratives as vehicles for advancing equity and improving community health
  7. Decarcerate and Rehabilitate: Exploring philanthropy's role in solving incarceration through true partnership
  8. The Health First Collaborative – A model to align philanthropy with the movement for health justice in Chicagoland

2023
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in Atlanta

  1. Promoting Health Justice in School Environments: Advancing Access to Mental Health Resources and Transforming School Disciplinary Policies as a Public Health Imperative
  2. Black-Led Community-Based Organizations Advancing Public Health Equity
  3. Public Health Funder Network Social Hour(Sponsored by The Fulton-Dekalb Hospital Authority)
  4. Public Health Funder Network Business Meeting - All Welcome
  5. Transforming NIH Research through Community Engaged Research, Health Equity Structural Interventions, and Advancing Health Communication
  6. Demystifying Philanthropy through Public-Private Partnerships: the Collective Impact of the Live Well Lake County Program
  7. Stronger Together: Models of Foundation Partnerships that Respond to the Opioid Crisis
  8. Demystifying Public-Private Partnerships in Philanthropy in the South: Lessons from Georgia

2024
PHFN events at the Annual Meeting in Minneapolis

  1. Public-Private Partnerships for CHW Workforce Sustainability: Best Practices for Developing Successful Collaborations
  2. Community-Driven Change to Build/Rebuild Trust: Learnings from Texas Funders
  3. Rebuilding Trust through Collaboration: Investing in Public-Private Partnerships to Address the Health Impacts of Climate Change
  4. Public Health Funder Network Social Hour (Sponsored by the Center for Prevention, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota)
  5. Public Health Funder Network Business Meeting
  6. Leveraging Philanthropy and Public-Private Partnerships to Drive Medicaid Reform: Advancing Equity in Care for Children 0-6 Years Old
  7. Mapping the Terrain: Philanthropy’s Evolving Approaches to Health Equity
  8. Rebuilding Trust: Funding Food-Is-Medicine Approaches in Communities of Color
Organizations Participating in the Public Health Funder Network
Organization Annual Meeting
Abena Asante 2024
Acclivus 2020
Alameda Health System Foundation 2017
American Heart Association 2017
Annie E. Casey Foundation 2017, 2018
Asian Resources Inc. 2016
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials 2013
Athabascan Nation, Chickaloon Native Village 2018
Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission 2017
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois 2013-2017, 2019
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation 2022
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation 2016-2019, 2023
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation
2022
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas 2014-2015
Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health 2017
Blue Shield of California Foundation 2018-2023
BUILD Health Challenge 2017
Build Healthy Places Network 2021
Builder's Initiative 2024
California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice 2020
California Community Foundation
2018
The California Endowment 2015-2016, 2018, 2020
California Wellness Foundation 2020 
Candid 2019-2022
Caring for Colorado Foundation 2020
Casa de Salud 2017
CDC Foundation 2017, 2019, 2021-2022
Center for Community Change 2018
Center for High Impact Philanthropy 2020
Center for Prevention at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota 2024
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative 2021
The Chicago Community Trust 2013-2015
ChangeLab Solutions 2015
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia 2019
Chris 180 2017
City of Long Beach (California) 2018
City of Richmond (California) 2018
Cityhealth.org 2015
Colorado Center on Law and Policy 2016
Colorado Health Foundation 2016
The Colorado Trust 2016, 2018
Community Catalyst 2016
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan 2023
Community Memorial Foundation 2014-2024
Cook County (IL) Department of Public Health 2024
Correctional Association of New York 2021
Council on Foundations 2021
Create a Healthier Niagara Falls Collaborative 2019
Criminal Justice Coordinating Council 2017
de Beaumont Foundation 2014-2017, 2020-2022, 2024
Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana/The Delta Dental Foundation 2018
Desert Vista Consulting
2022
Dion's Chicago Dream 2024
Dogwood Health Trust 2023
DuPage County Health Department 2017
Edward Zigler Center for Child Development and Social Policy 2021
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights 2020
Endowment for Health 2020
Environmental Health Watch 2017
Episcopal Health Foundation 2017
EverThrive Illinois 2013
Exponent Philanthropy 2014-2022
The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation
2022
Foodsmart 2024
Forefront 2017
Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky 2014-2015, 2018-2019
Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts 2023
Foundations of East Chicago 2016
The Fulton-Dekalb Hospital Authority 2023
Fund for a Safer Future 2013
The George Washington University School of Public Health & Services 2016
Georgia Department of Public Health 2023
The Georgia Health Foundation  2017
Georgia State University 2017
The Gilead Foundation 2023
Grantmakers in Health 2015-2024
Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce 2017
Greater Twin Cities United Way 2019
Group Health Research Institute 2016
Growing Well 2018
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group 2013, 2017, 2024
Healthcare Association of New York State
2022
Health Care Council of Chicago 2020
Healthy Communities Foundation 2024
Health Federation of Philadelphia 2019
Health Forward Foundation 2024
Health Foundation in South Florida 2015
Health Foundation for Western and Central New York
2022
Health Management Associates 2015
Health Resources in Action 2018
Health Trust 2020
Healthcare Georgia Foundation 2017
Healthfirst 2024
Helmsley Charitable Trust  2019
Highmark Foundation 2013
Incarnate Word Foundation 2016
The Independence Blue Cross Foundation 2019
Indianapolis Congregation Action Network 2017
Interact for Health 2014-2019
Jessie Parker Williams Foundation 2023
The John A. Hartford Foundation
2022
John Merck Foundation 2015
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 2014-2015
Joyce Foundation 2013, 2016-2017
Kaiser Permanente 2015
Kansas Health Foundation 2018
Kathleen E. Perkins, LLC
2020-2022 
The Kresge Foundation 204, 2016, 2019, 2023
The Lake County Community Foundation (Grayslake, IL)
2023
The Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center (Waukegan, IL)
2023
Legal Action Center 2018
Lewis Health Solutions 2017
Liberty Hill Foundation
2022
Loyola Marymount University 2022
Maine Health Access Foundation 2014
Massachusetts Association of Mental Health
2022
Melodee Toles 2024 
Mat-Su Health Foundation 2018
The Melville Charitable Trust 2014 
Methodist Healthcare Ministries 2021, 2024
Metropolitan Family Services 2020
Metta Fund 2015-2017
Michael Reese Health Trust
2020, 2022
Michigan Health Endowment Fund 2023
Mindful Philanthropy 2022-2023
Missouri Foundation for Health 2016, 2018
Mountain Area Health Education Center 2023
NAMI Colorado 2016
National Institutes of Health 2023
Neighborhood Planning Unit V 2017
New America Media 2016
New Futures 2018
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation 2018
New York City Department of Healthy & Mental Hygiene 2021
The New York Community Trust 2017-2023
The New York State Health Foundation 2019, 2022
New York State Office of Children and Family Services 2020
Nonprofit Strategy & Capacity Building 2016
North Chicago Think Tank 2023
North Dakota State University 2017
North Sound Accountable Community of Health
2022
Northern Hills Ministry Center Collaborative 2021
Northwestern University 2020
NYC Health and Hospitals 2021, 2024
NYU Child Center 2021
NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development 2013
One Mind 2021
Otto Bremer Trust 2017
Partners in Health - United States
2022
Peg's Foundation 2020
PEK Consulting 2015-2017
Pennsylvania State University 2013
Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs 2019
Pennsylvania Humanities Council 2019
Peoria City/County Health Department 2017
Pew Charitable Trusts 2015
Pfizer 2013
Philadelphia Department of Public Health 2019
Polk Bros Foundation 2014, 2017
Providence Center for Outcomes Research and Education 2020
The Public Health Good Projects 2021
Public Health Institute 2015-2016
Public Health Institute, Public Health Innovation Lab
2022
Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago 2017
Ravenswood Health Foundation 2015
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2014, 2016-2018, 2020
Robin Hood Foundation 2021, 2024
San Francisco State University 2018
Santa Clara Department of Public Health
2022
Scattergood Foundation 2019
Shift Health Accelerator  2021
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy
2024
Sierra Health Foundation 2020
Sinai Urban Health Institute
2022, 2024
Social Impact Exchange 2022
SOULD Chicago 2018
Southern Poverty Law Center 2023
Spark Policy Institute 2016
St. David's Foundation 2016
State of Alaska Court System 2018
State of Alaska Division of Public Health 2018
Sustainable Food Center 2016
Switch/Health Blog 2017-2019, 2022
TCC Group 2016
Teen Hype 2023
Trinity Church Wall Street 2020
The Boston Foundation 2018
The California Endowment 2015-2016, 2018
The Chicago Community Trust 2013-2015
The Colorado Health Foundation 2016
The Colorado Trust 2016, 2018
The George Washington University, School of Public Health and Services 2016
The Georgia Health Foundation 2017
The Independence Blue Cross Foundation 2019
The John Merck Found 2015
The Kresge Foundation 2014, 2016, 2019
The Melville Charitable Trust 2014
The New York Community Trust 2017-2019
The New York State Health Foundation 2019
Trinity Health 2016
United Way of Buffalo and Erie County 2019
United Way of Greater Atlanta 2020-2023
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey 2019
United Way of Metro Chicago 2017
University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health 2018
University of Pennsylvania — Center for High Impact Philanthropy 2018-2022
University of Pennsylvania - School of Nursing
2022
University of Southern California 2016
University of Wisconsin-Madison 2018
Urban Affairs Coalition 2019
Urban Health Plan, Inc. 2019
Urban Institute 2020
Van Ameringen Foundation 2020
Vital Strategies 2023
Vitalyst Health Foundation              2015-2018
VNA Foundation 2013-2023
Well Being Trust 2020
Yale University School of Medicine 2019
Youth Research Inc. 2021
Zero to Three 2024