Cultivating the Field

The John A. Hartford Foundation understands that the only way to accomplish its goal of realizing a gero-competent, patient-centered health care system is to grow the field of aging and health. No one foundation or organization or government agency can take on that Herculean task alone.

In addition to partnering with government agencies, other foundations, and institutions on specific projects and programs, the Hartford Foundation also partners with numerous organizations with a focus on aging and health that bring different perspectives and expertise together to learn from one another and work together to strengthen the field.

Over the decades, Foundation staff have worked diligently to build relationships with others in the field. They also have taken leadership roles in a wide variety of philanthropic organizations. Some of the most notable include:

  • Grantmakers in Health (GIH), launched in 1982 as a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to helping foundations and corporate giving programs improve the health of all people. Multiple Hartford staff members have served on its board, and staff support and benefit from its mission to foster communication and collaboration among grantmakers and others, and to help strengthen the grantmaking community’s knowledge, skills, and effectiveness.
  • Grantmakers in Aging (GIA), an inclusive and responsive membership organization of 100 institutions that is a national catalyst for philanthropy, with a common dedication to improving the experience of aging. The Hartford Foundation was a founding member, and continues to provide support.
  • Philanthropy Roundtable dates back to the1970s and was formally organized in1987. The publisher of the influential Philanthropy quarterly magazine, Philanthropy Roundtable is America’s leading network of charitable donors working to strengthen our free society, uphold donor intent, and protect the freedom to give.
  • Philanthropy New York, founded in 1979, is the principal professional community of philanthropic foundations based in the New York City region. Its 285 member organizations—including the leading private, corporate, family, and public grantmaking foundations in the world—each year provide support totaling more than four billion dollars to thousands of nonprofit organizations and non-government organizations located in New York, the U.S., and around the world, which in turn focus on an almost endless range of issues and concerns.

These are just a few of the many organizations the Foundation has supported, and in which it has found inspiration. The benefits of networking and sharing experiences, knowledge, and ideas with those tilling the same field are invaluable. These organizations also provide fertile ground for new potential partners, as well as a bond to keep us connected with longtime collaborators.

Growing the field of aging and health is hard work. We are enormously grateful for the dedicated partners who have been willing to engage in that work with us over the years.

 

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