With implementation of the Affordable Care Act coming in 2014, many funders may be breathing a sigh of relief for the uninsured. But don’t let all the air out just yet.
Even after full implementation, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that some 30 million Americans will remain without health insurance. Some of these will be people who, despite the broader reach of health coverage, still will be unable to afford insurance. Others will choose to pay the fine rather than purchase insurance. Others will abstain from coverage for religious reasons. And undocumented residents are not covered by the ACA.
Regardless of the reasons, the fact remains that there will be human beings in need of care and without insurance after January 1, 2014. And, unless there is a better system available, they will do what millions before them have done: become confused by a disjointed public health care system with no clear access point, fear the out-of-pocket costs they might incur, miss out on preventative care, delay treatment, and end up in the emergency room when conditions are most critical and care is most expensive.
Recently, Putnam Community Investment Consulting had the pleasure to create a case study for a unique program that effectively closes the “cracks” that the uninsured might otherwise fall through. Healthy San Francisco (HSF) provides access to affordable, high-quality care for tens of thousands of uninsured adults each year, and has served more than 116,000 San Franciscans since it began in 2007. HSF is NOT health insurance, but it does provide many of the benefits that make patients more at ease, and more likely to seek preventative care and earlier treatment.
The case study provides a look at how HSF works, the various partners who make it successful, a breakdown of funding sources, and evidence of the programs success. There’s also a list of seven things any community can do to improve healthcare access to the uninsured.
Update: A funders teleconference on the philanthropic response to the tragedy at the Boston Marathon will be held Thursday, April 18th at 10:30a ET, sponsored by Associated Grant Makers. Click here to register. You can also visit their Disaster Relief page for additional information and updates.
The bombings in Boston were senseless, evil and tremendously sad. Like everyone, my heart goes out to all affected, and it will likely be days, weeks and months before we comprehend the full impact of this tragedy. Because I consult in philanthropy and have written and given speeches about disaster-related grantmaking, I thought I could help in a small way by quickly passing along information via Twitter about how foundations are responding to this tragedy and ways people can help. I went to the websites of what I assumed would be my “go-to” sources of information: The Boston Foundation, Associated Grant Makers (the regional association of grantmakers in Massachusetts) Council on Foundations, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the Center on Disaster Philanthropy.
To my surprise there was very little information listed, but I am passing along what I have learned and links to some of the helpful resources shared via Twitter.
The Boston Foundation’s home page lists memorial services and candlelight vigils in the Boston area during the coming days, and requests that people email them with any additional memorials. Their statement about this tragedy indicates “We continue to be in touch with state and local officials as well as other members of the nonprofit and philanthropic community, as we develop our immediate and longer-term efforts to support our community in this time of need.” I am sure we will learn more from them in the coming days and weeks, and recommend that anyone interested be sure to check their website and follow them on Twitter @Bostonfdn.
At the time of this writing, there was nothing about the Boston tragedy listed on the website of Associated Grant Makers, although they did have a tweet directing people to some very helpful resources I’ve cited below (You can follow them on Twitter at @AGMconnect). The Council on Foundations’ website included a short statement of sympathy but no additional information directing grantmakers or donors to resources, although they also shared useful information via Twitter (follow at @COF_). Similarly, there was nothing on the websites Chronicle of Philanthropy or the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
Here are the resources I have found most helpful in my initial scan of websites and Twitter. Of course I welcome anyone to share additional and updated resources as a comment to this blog.
I realize it’s not the responsibiltiy of any one foundation, organization, or association of grantmakers to be the real-time, go-to source of information about how to make donations during the time of a disaster. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to live and work in Boston today, and I am certain that there are many behind the scenes conference calls and emails flying across the country today among very smart, seasoned philanthropists and philanthropy professionals gathering information and seeking to develop a coordinated response (and I’m hopeful we will learn more soon). I also strongly believe that it is important for philanthropy to “do no harm” and take time to plan out a response. But I do feel that it would be tremendously helpful if foundations and grantmaking associations developed communications plans as part of their own disaster preparedness planing to immediately communicate with their constituents — grantmakers, philanthropists, donors, and everyday citizens who want to help – during and following a disaster. Even if it is only, as the Boston Foundation has done, to let us know that they are working on it, to share initial resources, to request more information, and to stay tuned.
This is a guest post by P. Scott Cunningham, founder, O, Miami Festival. It was originally published on the KnightArts blog on March 19, 2013.
Three years ago, I and a group of friends started to dream up what a lot of people considered impossible: a festival that would bring poetry to all 2.6 million residents of Greater Miami.
At that time, Miami’s cultural scene was exploding. Art Basel was in full force, and we wanted to do a festival that was the opposite of the “pipe-and-blazer” readings that most people associate with poetry. We wanted to do a festival that reflected Miami’s diversity and personality.
Knight Foundation had just finished the first round of its famous “Random Acts of Culture” and we liked how those events turned everyday events into cultural occasions. What if did something like that? What if we did it every day for a month?
And that’s how O, Miami was born. In the poetry festival’s first year, we did 45 events and 19 projects in a 30-day span, and almost none of them had a recognizable headliner. (You can get a taste for it in a new report being published this week.)
As we head into our second full incarnation of the festival on April 1, we wanted to share a few of the things we learned about engaging new audiences and creating a cultural event that transcends geography, genre, and demographics.
1. The Internet is your friend, if you let it be: By the “Internet” I don’t mean your festival’s website; I’m referring to how festivals utilize the content they create. Archiving your events is nice, but no one wants to watch a static video of a performance. All it does is remind the viewer that he or she wasn’t there. Think about what travels on the web: short videos that are entertaining and self-explanatory. As we’re planning the actual events for O, Miami, we treat web-only content as its own event that we budget for just like any other. For example, in 2011 we did a project with an artist named Agustina Woodgate in which she went into Miami thrift stores and sewed poems into random items of clothing. The video we made from that project, below, got picked up by The Guardian and Time Magazine and communicates the spirit of the festival in a way we could never explain in an interview.
2. Cross-pollinate: We try to partner with other organizations as much as possible, and in ways that give them creative agency in the festival itself. Our host hotel, The Betsy South Beach, created their own reading series on their front porch. Every day in April, at 5 p.m., a poet will give a two poem reading. Yes, our visiting poets are staying there, but the hotel is also making their entire building into a vehicle for the festival. We could never do something like that on our own.
3. Be who you are: Although we try as much as possible to subvert the audience’s expectations about poetry, we’re also highly aware that poetry is always going to be, well, dorky. And that’s ok. We’ve come to learn, through the festival, that most people are dorks are heart. So while the festival is willing to stretch its audience, we won’t ever abandon poetry’s strength as a medium where people can be comfortable embracing their own intelligence.
4. Invite people who don’t fit neatly into your genre: We invited hip-hop legends Kool Moe Dee and Money Love to our poetry festival. Why not? They both have a lot to say about lyricism and are passionate about where their art form departs from the page. Sometimes it’s just as good to engage an audience in talking about what your genre is not as it is to engage them in what it is.
5. Make the audience the star: Just as we try to give partner organizations creative agency, we also want our audience to be active creative participants. There’s a lot of literature out there now about how audiences expect a higher form of engagement, but that’s not why we get them involved. We do it because we believe participation is an essential part of poetry. A poem will never be as flashy as a movie, but unlike a movie, anyone can write a “big-budget” poem. And we believe the future of the genre depends on everyone given the agency to write their own work and have it displayed publicly….like behind an airplane!
This year we have an open contest to write a 50-character poem. The winning poem will be flown behind a biplane up and down Miami Beach the weekend of April 27 and 28th. Which brings me to…
6. Create Advertising as content: The old model of advertise-in-order-to-get-audience is, in my opinion, outdated and a missed opportunity. If the only way we can reach someone is with an ad, then let’s reach them with something meaningful. In 2011, we partnered with The Poetry Society of America to bring their Poetry in Motion campaign to all 751 Miami-Dade buses. This year we’re putting poetry on 100 lamppost banners around the county. Do these ads spread the word about the festival? Yes, but they also are the festival.
7. Emphasize the local: No matter where you live, the residents of your city have strong opinions about it. Find ways to help people identify with the places that are important to them. This year we’re conducting a contest with local public radio news outlet WLRN-Miami Herald News in which we’re asking their audience to submit short poems that begin or end with the phrase “That’s so Miami.” Then we’re going to play the best ones back on the radio as well as publish them on a unique tumblr site.
8. Remember – name recognition never hurts: And I think it helps even more if it’s unexpected. In 2011, we invited the actor James Franco. He hadn’t proven himself yet as a poet, but we invited him because we could see that his passion for poetry was genuine. He was making short films based on complex works such as Frank Bidart’s “Herbert White,” and he was studying with a great poet we knew, Tony Hoagland. James’s involvement in the festival sent a message to Miami’s audience that poetry is alive and relevant.
And this year we’ve invited Megan Amram, a young comedian who writes for the NBC show Parks & Recreation. She has only published a few poems, but we were impressed by them, and we are very impressed by her as a writer in general. Personally, it’s not important to me that she hasn’t been recognized yet as a poet. I think she’s interesting, and as an organizer, if I’m not following my nose and trusting my instincts, then why am I doing this?
Need emotional support in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy?
The immediate chaos associated with a natural disaster may leave you “too busy” to realize the emotional toll its taking at first, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t feel the effects once all of the activity dies down. SAMHSA continues to work hard with its partners to ensure that those working through the emotional hardships associated with disasters have resources to help themselves and their loved ones cope both during and after the fact.
Need to speak with someone NOW?
SAMHSA sponsors a national Disaster Distress Helpline that immediately connects callers to trained and caring professionals from the closest crisis counseling center within the nationwide network.
To access the helpline 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, call 1-800-985-5990 , text TalkWithUs to 66746, or visit the SAMHSA website at http://disasterdistress.samhsa.gov/
The Helpline staff will provide confidential counseling, referrals and other needed support services.
Need tips on helping yourself and loved ones cope with the emotional toll of Hurricane Sandy?
When disaster strikes, people react with increased anxiety, worry and anger. With community and family support, most of us bounce back. Take some time to make sure you and your loved ones are getting any extra assistance necessary in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy; there are countless organizations and people out there who want to and can help.
At the turn of the current century, after decades of academic percolation, the concept of “design thinking” began to expand rapidly in popular business literature and conversation. Although finding a clear, consistent explanation of design thinking is rather like asking bridesmaids to agree on the perfect shade of blue, Wikipedia offers this definition:
Design Thinking refers to the methods and processes for investigating ill-defined problems, acquiring information, analyzing knowledge, and positing solutions in the design and planning fields. As a style of thinking, it is generally considered the ability to combine empathy for the context of a problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and rationality to analyze and fit solutions to the context.
Ill-defined problems. Combining empathy, creativity, and rationality in developing a solution. Sounds perfect for philanthropy, doesn’t it? It’s no wonder then, that as design thinking has become manifest in the business world, it’s beginning to pique the interest of the funding community.
In a recent conversation with Kyle Reis, Manager for Strategy and Operations at the Ford Foundation, we pondered the question of how foundations might partner with design communities to help them learn how to more fundamentally and intentionally integrate design and design thinking into their work.
And this is already happening. One of the better-known examples of this is IDEO, a San Francisco Bay Area design firm that is a recognized frontrunner in the design thinking movement. IDEO President and CEO Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt, who then led the company’s Social Innovation group, published a flagship article, “Design Thinking for the Social Sector,” in the winter 2010 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review that has helped pave the way for further reflection on the topic. In 2011, the company started its own philanthropic arm, IDEO.org, to help bring design thinking to social problems. (Wyatt is now its co-lead and executive director.) The Chronicle of Philanthropy covered this launch with a great story about a collaboration to pilot a new, affordable system of in-home toilets for low-income urban dwellers in Ghana.
One element of this effort, OpenIDEO, focuses on leveraging crowd-wisdom by using an online platform to discuss solutions to social challenges. In this space, people from around the world can lend their knowledge, ideas and insights to help solve social problems, whether local or global. (There’s a great video there about that Ghana toilet project, too.)
And foundations themselves are focusing on ways in which design might inform and advance the work of foundations. The Ford Foundation, for instance, hosted a meeting earlier this year, Change By Design, to bring together leaders in design, social innovation, art and journalism to think creatively about digital storytelling and cutting-edge tools to visualize, map and create narratives that inspire action. (Here are some resources highlighted at that meeting).
The idea of open sharing of creativity and knowledge for common good is intriguing. The business world doesn’t own the concept of design thinking any more than the philanthropic world owns the concept of empathy, so it makes sense that the two should combine forces and resources (along with government, entrepreneurs, engaged citizens, scientists, educators, and designers) to solve social problems.
But while there are plenty of articles, information, opinions and posts from the corporate and academic perspectives about the social benefits of design thinking, it’s still relatively quiet on the philanthropic side. But that is changing. In my next post, we’ll talk about some of the conversations already taking place and efforts that are now underway, such as Public Interest Design and the School for Visual Arts Design for Social Innovation MFA program, to more systematically weave design and social change together.
And in the true spirit of design thinking, advancement comes by listening to a variety of perspectives. So why not add the voice of philanthropy to design and in the process bring the benefits of design thinking to our philanthropic work?
Have you had experience with design or design thinking in your work? If so, please share a comment!
P.S. For a quick way to better your understanding about what design thinking is and what it might do, check out the trailer for Design and Thinking, a documentary on design thinking, that was released earlier this year. Also, visit the Institute of Design at Stanford’s website and watch their 3-minute video about a design thinking boot camp course for all disciplines.
There really is no substitute for planning and preparedness when it comes to effective disaster response. An hour you spend today could save days in response time when time is most critical. Here are four good reads to start:
Best Practices in Disaster Grantmaking: Lessons from the Gulf Coast, was published by the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (now Philanthropy New York) in 2008. It describes the philanthropic responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that were deemed “successful” by funders and grantees, and offers recommended practices that can be applied to future disasters.
Recognize that there are places private philanthropy can help that government agencies might not. Situations that arise during and immediately after disasters (such as the hospital generator failure in New York or levee failure in New Orleans) can offer prime opportunities for funding academic research on causes and best practices related to those situations. Careful analysis now can make all the difference in preparation for the future.
Those not in the particular geographic area affected by the storm might connect on a different level. Look for ways to tie disaster funding into existing mission, and to leverage in-house expertise. In terms of Sandy, for example, there are opportunities to support vulnerable populations such as the elderly and infirm, as well as those who don’t speak English and may have greater needs when it comes to recovery. Mental health issues are also important to address over the long term following a disaster. Consider support for those still coping with losses from Hurricane Irene in 2011, or even those impacted by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, now seeing the memorial flooded by Sandy’s waters.
Even while focusing on immediate needs, remember that it will take some time for the full range of needs to emerge. Power loss, transportation outages, and flood-damaged homes may be top of mind, but we have yet to truly understand the impact that this storm has had on people’s lives. Be patient in planning for disaster funding. Recovery will take a long time, and funding will be needed throughout.
Recognize that the storm may expose needs not typically seen on this scale in the United States-and this will open up possibilities for future disaster planning. Plans could be developed for the more effective distribution of food during massive power outages. In addition, as sewage and standing water covers portions of communities, the risks of disease and environmental damage increase.
Support the sharing of best practices. Florida, for example, has developed stringent building codes to mitigate destruction from hurricanes. Interested donors could help support the transfer of expertise from one region to another before the next disaster occurs.
Be willing to consider long-term, multi-year commitments. Remember that New Orleans still hasn’t fully recovered from Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, and New York still hasn’t fully rebuilt from damage sustained on Sept. 11, 2001.
Remember that Sandy’s effects were felt well beyond U.S. borders. Still crippled by the 2010 earthquake and affected by Hurricane Isaac just a few months ago, Haiti saw 52 deaths related to Sandy and now faces a potential cholera epidemic and food shortages.
Connect with other funders across the affected region and the nation. Collaborative philanthropic response to the disaster leverages combined expertise and maximizes the value of the human, financial, and technical resources donated. Use the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, your regional association, or other networks to plan and leverage your support.
1-800-985-5990 , text TalkWithUs to 66746, or visit the SAMHSA website at 
